Ghost of Love
by Lascylla
Summary: Imbued with the chakra of a hundred dead ninja, Sakura goes off to rescue Sasuke.  Unfortunately her plan does not proceed accordingly and she finds herself at the mercy of Orochimaru with little hope of escaping.  Crack! Orosaku goodness.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: ** Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and various other companies, etc.

Ghost of Love: Chapter One

Cool night air frosted over Sakura's pale skin, lifting tiny goosebumps in its wake. She shivered, closing her sea-green eyes to the moon silvered clearing around her. Fear and doubt bubbled, a choking wave of paralysing uncertainty rising in her throat. _I hope they can forgive me for this… They will, I'm sure, if it works._

If_ it works._

_It _will_ work. Because it _has_ to._

_I'm going to get Sasuke back. I'll bring him home if I have to _drag_ him kicking and screaming back to Konoha._

She shuddered and buried the resounding _he is where he wants to be _that kept popping up in her mind. _He's confused and… he doesn't know what he wants. _

_Yes he does. He wants power. And he _doesn't _want _you_._

The pink-haired kunoichi groaned aloud and clenched her fists, digging her short nails into the soft flesh of her palms. _There's no way I'm going back now. I've finally found a way to bring him home. I can't just give up after all these years._

Abruptly all the uncertainty drained out of her and Sakura opened her eyes, fears successfully subdued for now. With renewed energy she withdrew a heavy scroll from the drawstring bag before her. She regarded the simple, weighty artefact in her hands for a moment, testing herself for hesitation, for weakness. A burst of fear ignited in her chest but she ignored it valiantly. _I've come this far. If I back out now everything will have been for nothing. I will have betrayed Lady Tsunade's trust for _nothing_. _Sakura wrestled her nerves back under control, pushing the memories of her treachery to the back of her mind. _It's done and I can't go back and change my actions. I have to look forward. I have to _stop_ second guessing myself._

Sakura slid her thumbnail beneath the seal that held the scroll closed and slowly began to unravel it. _All I have to do… is sign this contract in my blood. That's it. And the power of the entire Matsumori clan will be given over to me for a total of twenty-four hours. It's not very long, but it'll have to do._

The scroll was relatively short once it was laid out on the damp earth; perhaps three metres in length. But the silk-parchment it was made of was very thick and obviously valuable. It occurred to Sakura that this was a dangerous heirloom she was dealing with, the remnants of a damned clan full of murderers and power-hungry monsters. _Too late,_ she reminded herself as her fingers traced over the complex kanji with deep, fearful reverence. Her skin tingled where it came into contact with the ink, sending an odd thrill of anticipation up her spine. _So much power, just waiting to be unleashed. _A vague, distant uneasiness writhed at the back of her thoughts, but Sakura ignored it, too enthralled by the rising euphoria that her proximity to the unsealed scroll was producing.

In a rhapsodic haze, the girl pulled her hands away from the parchment long enough to inflict a shallow slice across the pad of her right index finger, discarding the kunai carelessly as she rushed to answer the call of the scroll. She didn't feel even the faintest twinge of pain as she scraped her lacerated finger over the aged and mouldy silk-paper, didn't feel the scratch and pull as her minor wound was opened further in her desperate haste. In moments, her name was signed and the strange, frayed heirloom began absorbing her blood hungrily, needily, until all that remained was an indistinct, rust-coloured stain on its porous surface.

Sakura sat back on her heels, confused. The compulsion was gone; evaporating the very second her name was complete. She blinked blearily, feeling like she had just awoken from an incredibly deep sleep. _Weird…_

"Ungg," Sakura grunted reflexively and tried to scramble to her feet as a ghostly arm wrenched itself out of the ground and wrapped around her calf. The hand gripped her leg mercilessly, holding her immobile as more and more arms shot out of the earth and wrapped icy, dead fingers around her frozen form. Terror shot through her, her heart thundering painfully in her chest as the spectral limbs climbed higher, hauling themselves up her petrified body. Whole carcasses began tearing free from the damp ground, cold and blue, wavering like heat in the distance on a summer day. Sakura cried out, unable to move and entirely unprepared for the sensation of wrongness as the chakra of a hundred dead ninja forcefully invaded her body. The pathways that crisscrossed her muscles and encased her organs pulsed with new power, inflamed and growing more swollen by the second. The smell of fertile soil reached Sakura's nose and she wondered distantly at her ability to even notice such minor things in the midst of this whirlwind of pain and power. Hands wrapped around her chest, around her throat, squeezing until she thought they would crush her. At just the point when she thought her body could take no more pressure it was as though her skin and muscles and bones just _gave way_ and the chakra rushed inward, blindly delving into the network of power, absorbed completely into her own power.

Gradually, after what seemed to be hours of agonising invasion, the stream of bodies breaking free from the forest floor began to ebb and control of her own limbs was returned to Sakura. The chakra ghosts finally settled in her skin, still giving off the occasional burst of energy, but otherwise remaining under control. _Oh thank god. I thought it was never going to end! _The girl sighed shakily and slumped to the ground, trembling with an overload of energy. For the moment her mind was completely blank, devoid of all thought. Indeed, devoid of all _capability_ for thought. A chilly breeze danced over her skin, tangling in her long coral-tinged mane and sending the fine hairs that dusted her arms rising. The moon glowed and the stars glittered fiercely from their place in the heavens. Small nocturnal animals went about their nightly business, owls hooting and mice scurrying. And Sakura sat, still and empty, yet impossibly full. _I should move..._

* * *

_AN: _Rewritten 17/12/2010 more detail added. I adore this pairing, though there seems to be only a few fics about them, so I'm attempting to remedy that. Kind of . I guess we'll just have to see if I manage to make this any good lol!

Please note, before you jump up and down and yell at me out of sheer disgust: Sakura is 20 here. Orochimaru's missed the two windows of opportunity to take over Sasuke's body since he first joined the Sound at 13. This is mostly because Sasuke isn't an idiot in this fic and makes himself very, very scarce whenever that time rolls around.

Please let me know of any mistakes/inconsistencies or if there is anything you would like to be improved. Thanks! 3


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Not like you really thought I did, though, hey?

Ghost of Love: Chapter Two

Heavily, clumsily, Sakura rose from her slouch, struggling to get her legs underneath her. She fumbled with the scroll, rolling it up messily and shoving it back into the drawstring pack she had discarded earlier. Wearily she stumbled over to the tree line and fell to her knees at the base of a large, old evergreen. Quickly and with graceless strokes she carved a hole in the damp, giving ground in the circle of the ancient tree's roots and buried the Matsumori Scroll – drawstring bag and all - two feet below the surface. Once the area was sufficiently disguised, Sakura stood and dusted off her legs, noting with relief that she seemed to be regaining some of her usual dexterity.

The sky had just begun to lighten on the distant horizon, reaching struggling fingers of violet and burgundy through the dense forest. Sakura frowned as she shifted her weight, readying herself to take off through the treetops. _Damn. I've wasted a couple of hours already! I really need to get moving. I just wish my body would hurry up and get used to this new chakra! _ Carefully she tested her balance, bending her knees and lightening the weight on her heels so that she held herself evenly on the balls of her feet. Her muscles shook a little, a strange ache setting up in her calves. _I can't be worried about this at the moment. If I'm going to save Sasuke, I need to get going _now_. _Setting her concerns aside for the moment, the pink-haired kunoichi pushed off from the ground, releasing a small burst of chakra to launch herself into the branches of the trees. The disproportionate amount of power that was released, however, sent her light body soaring over the ceiling of the forest, instead. _Oh my god! This is amazing! _Sakura grinned as she flew wildly through the air, the joy only falling from her face as she began to descend; branches and leaves rushing up to snatch at her limbs and collide with her body in bruising impact. She came to a painful, thundering halt as she slammed into the trunk of an enormous tree and slid down the rough old bark to the ground. _Owww.._.

Sakura slowly unfolded her tangled body, taking quick, painful inventory of her scrapes and bruises and the miraculous lack of broken bones. _At least the chakra's doing _something_ right, apparently. _She had just begun to rise, gingerly, to her feet when something landed heavily on her shoulder, pushing her back down with a thump. A rough voice met her ears.

"Well, well… what do we have here?"

Sakura paused, willing her head to stop spinning as she contemplated just how to respond to such an inane question. _"A kunoichi, obviously, you numbwit." _Was the first response that ran through her addled mind – courtesy of her inner bitch -, but it was quickly discarded in favour of something less confrontational. "Uh…" She glanced up quickly, surprised to find three Sound Ninja standing before her, one holding the sheath of his katana against her shoulder. _ Perfect…_ "I'm trying to find Lord Orochimaru. I… would like to join the Sound Village's efforts against Konoha." Inwardly she winced. _I can barely say the words even when I know they're a lie!_

The katana Ninja straightened and eyed her carefully. "…really?"

Sakura nodded desperately, not having to fake the plea in her eyes. _I'm not here to fight you guys – much and all as I'd _love_ to kick your asses - but I don't have time for this! The ghosts' chakra will fade in twenty four hours. I have until then to get Sasuke out and get back to the Leaf Village. I've already wasted a couple of hours recovering from the… ugh, infusion I guess you could call it._

"Hmph. The leaf insignia on your forehead protector kind of indicates otherwise." The sheath was shoved harder against Sakura's shoulder.

"…oh. That. I tried to infiltrate their shinobi ranks but… it didn't quite work," Sakura's face fell in what she felt was a fair imitation of shame and disappointment.

"I don't think I believe you," the lead ninja pulled the wood and leather sheath away from her shoulder and slid it back into place at his sash. "But, you know what, little spy? Lord Orochimaru will have a great deal of fun forcing the truth out of you."

Rough hands wrapped around her biceps and Sakura felt herself being hauled to her feet. _Oh thank god. At least they're taking me to where Sasuke is. Maybe not quite how I wanted to get there, but… Still, this saves me from fumbling around in this enormous forest, trying to find Orochimaru's hideout._

"Come on. We don't want to keep Lord Orochimaru waiting, now do we?"

_Oh no, we don't want that, _Sakura mused sarcastically.

* * *

_AN: _Rewritten 17/12/2010 more details added.

If you have any thoughts regarding this fic, don't hesitate to let me know, either through reviews or pm. XD I'm always happy to chat!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto. That's pretty much a gimme, right?

Ghost of Love: Chapter Three

Sakura twitched uncomfortably, her skin flinching from the silent burn of the ice-cold Matsumori chakra. The foreign power seemed to be brimming just below the surface dermal layer, pushing at it, swelling outwards as though it was eager to break free from the confines her body imposed on it. The two Sound ninja, who had hold of her upper arms, shot her identical scathing glances as they pulled her along, obviously disdainful of her apparent weakness. Sakura fought to control the intense urge to roll her eyes at their ignorant superiority. Their pace was punishing; they leaped with characteristic shinobi grace from tree branch to tree branch, dragging their prize along with them, heedless of the scratches and bruises she was receiving as she struggled to match them. Ordinarily, Sakura would easily keep pace with the Sound ninja, but the imbalance of chakra in her system was overloading her synapses, leaving her reaction times slow and her strides clumsy. _Damn. I thought by now my body would have adjusted. How am I going to fight when I can hardly control my muscles enough to keep up with _these_ idiots?_ Sakura cried out as she stumbled, her feet slipping off the edge of a moss-slick branch. She was only saved by the immensely tight grips of the two lackeys who held her, though her shoulders were nearly wrenched free from their sockets in the process. _I guess thinking and moving at the same time is out of the question at the moment. _

"Shin, Masao, get her up and keep moving," the leader of the small Sound squad called.

The pair nodded and hauled the dead weight of Sakura's unresponsive body back up onto the treacherous bough that had caused her fall.

"Stupid girl," one of them muttered. The other just rolled his eyes and grunted in agreement.

The pretty young chunin bristled slightly, her sea-green eyes narrowing with anger.

_Don't be an idiot, Sakura. _

She released a long breath, pushing her thoughts away from the rather attractive prospect of jerking free of the two lackeys and beating them into two red, pulpy messes.

"We're almost there. You two got a hold of her?" the leader asked quietly.

The pair nodded and grunted their assent, their hands tightening further around her biceps.

"Good. We don't want her getting loose and running back to her village, yeah?"

Grunt. Nod.

Sakura bit her lip as a particularly intense burst of chakra momentarily robbed her of oxygen. _Ugh, that _hurts_.._. Tiny waves of cold blue energy flickered over her skin, minute amounts leaking from every pore and forming an almost invisible film of power over the entirety of her body. The two Sound ninja flinched and snarled, their hands burning where they touched her skin, though their words were beyond Sakura's ability to comprehend as her whole being was suffused with chakra. She floated blissfully on a wave of airy, unconcerned euphoria. The pain she had felt before was completely numbed, almost like every nerve in her body was being submerged in ice, as her cells became used to the sensation. She gratefully relinquished control to the ghosts, letting their will guide her.

This beatific state was swiftly broken by shouts and the distant sensation of something hot trickling slowly down her neck. Sakura reluctantly gathered up her willpower and forced herself to reign in the Matsumori's dead energy, pulling it back into her body. Abruptly she snapped back to reality and the sting of steel against her throat brought her up short. "What..?"

The leader of the Sound squad held his katana to her neck in a trembling grasp, his face contorted with confused anxiety. "What the hell are you?" he snarled, pressing the tip of his sword harder into her skin.

"…uh, a kunoichi?"

Apparently he wasn't in the mood to appreciate levity. "Do that –_ whatever that was _– again, and I will kill you on the spot. Do you understand?"

Sakura swallowed heavily, very aware of the trickle of warm blood that eased down her throat. "Okay. Understood."

"Good," he removed his katana from its resting place at her neck and motioned for his subordinates to take hold of her again. He didn't re-sheathe his sword this time.

They set off again, even faster now, the trio obviously eager to be rid of their dangerous burden. Sakura breathed deeply, in and out, trying to watch where her feet landed while at the same time exerting every ounce of her not inconsiderable willpower on the rebellious chakra overwhelming her system. Every second that passed she descended further from discomfort and into downright agony as she battled to hold onto the last faint threads of control. _I don't think my body was ever meant to contain _this much_ chakra. _She barely noticed when they landed on solid ground, only distantly aware when grass gave way to concrete and branches to manmade stairs. She was jerked briefly back to reality when she tripped and almost tumbled head-first down a flight of steps, only to be saved once again by the vicelike grips of her captors.

"Watch it! You blind or something?" One of them growled, yanking her back to her feet.

Sakura shook her head and ground out a whimpered "Sorry."

Whatever response the Sound ninja gave was lost amidst the roaring of her accelerated heartbeat in her ears. Vaguely, Sakura caught sounds and sights through the haze of pain and energy; voices and doors and knocking. The hands left her arms and she almost found herself missing the anchor to reality that they had provided. Now she was adrift, alone in the dark. Overwhelmed.

She existed like this for an indeterminate amount of time that could have been days or could have been seconds, wrapped in a fog of numbing pain. Until one voice made itself known, clearly and without flaw. Sakura shuddered, overwhelming relief washing over her as the sound of another human voice pierced the never ending darkness. Raspy and unfamiliar, it tugged at her, pulling her through the shadows and leading her back to reality. It moulded itself around the chakra that numbed her senses, thrumming comfortingly along the same wavelength until she found her way out and life flooded back in.

Sight returned to Sakura with blinding clarity and she hungrily fed her eyes on the world around her, desperate to reassure herself that she was, indeed, free. Shadows and candlelight, an indistinct figure hovering off to her right. And before her a being so tangibly, absolutely, undeniably real that her eyes practically burned for seeing him. _That's… is that… Orochimaru? _Pale skin, gold eyes, long dark hair. Sakura squinted slightly, trying to lessen the impact he had on her vision. _Is he… glowing? With chakra? I've never seen anything like _that_ before._

"Hmm, who do we have here, Kabuto?"

* * *

_AN: _Rewritten 17/12/2010 more details added.

Reviews are beloved and treasured beyond measure. Or something like that. 3 Let me know of any mistakes, inconsistencies, ways in which this fic could be improved =D


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is owned by… uh… who now? Someone both brilliant and now very wealthy. I am neither.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Four

"This, my lord, is Sakura Haruno. She was – or she appeared to be - a friend of Sasuke's during the chuunin exams. They were on the same team."

"An old friend of Sasuke? How sweet. Let me guess; you've come here to rescue him?" Orochimaru drawled, his voice dripping with saccharine sarcasm as he focused upon the pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura shifted slightly, trying to readjust to having near-full command of her body once again. She became vaguely aware of icy chakra rising from her skin in waves, almost like it was evaporating under the influence of the warmer air. She hesitated, readying herself to fight it for control again, when she realised that she was here now. This was where she had been aiming to be. Rather than trying to reign in the power she should be letting it expand and using it to her full advantage.

That decided, Sakura's brain finally kicked into gear and she blinked sharply, shaking off the disconcertion of having her enemy _glow _at her. Finally she answered Orochimaru's mocking question. "Yes."

Orochimaru chuckled; a rasping, amused sound. "Oh my dear, you really should make an effort to learn something of subtlety. Do you actually think _telling_ me your intentions is going to do you any good?"

Sakura shrugged carelessly, and set her feet into motion, walking boldly, shakily towards the smug snake sannin. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blurry figure that was Kabuto make to stop her but he was stilled by some minute signal from Orochimaru. The dark-haired rogue ninja watched her approach with something akin to amused anticipation. "What on earth do you think you're doing, little fool," he breathed.

_What _am_ I doing? He's right, I am a fool. _Sakura impatiently shunted these useless thoughts aside, latching onto her earlier conviction with desperate fingers. _If I don't act now, I won't get another chance. I have to use this advantage while I still have it. _Sakura came to a dead stop a foot away from Orochimaru. She swayed unsteadily, blinking fiercely against the intense sharpness his image burned into her retinas. He looked at her with expectant, condescending eyes, as though waiting for her to do something amusing. There was no doubt that he would be able to sense the overabundance of chakra flooding her system, yet he hadn't even moved an inch. _Smug bastard._

"…well? Make your move, little one," he purred mockingly, golden eyes narrowed with vague impatience.

Sakura hissed an enraged breath, clenching her hands into chakra fuelled fists. Without wasting another moment, the coral-maned kunoichi launched herself at the Sound Village's false 'kage', anticipating the incredibly satisfying sensation of crushing his bones into a sludgy powder beneath her hands. Instead her fist smashed straight through the chair he had been seated upon, shattering the poor furnishing into a thousand tiny splinters.

_Damn it! How did I miss him from here?_

"Over here, little one," a scornful voice called from the other side of the room.

Sakura spun to face him as quickly as she could, reeling when her body refused to move the way she insisted it should. She sent a jolt of chakra into her feet, leaping towards the smirking snake sannin once again. And once more her attack passed straight through the air where he had been standing, her fist making a metre round crater in the solid concrete wall. With a frustrated huff, Sakura turned and located him again, fury rushing through her when she spied him leaning casually against the opposite wall. He chuckled that rasping, genuinely amused sound, obviously finding her anger rather entertaining.

"Oh, don't let my amusement put you off. Please, continue."

And so she did, powering up again, scarcely noticing how the floor began to crack in a halo around her feet and small, loose bits of cement collected in the swirling, evaporating corona of power around her form. With an inarticulate cry, Sakura sprang towards Orochimaru again, hope dying from her chest as she felt the wall give way under the power of her attack. _Why can't I hit him? Has the Matsumori chakra slowed me down _that_ much?_

_Just one more strike, I have to keep trying!_

Again, Sakura plunged headlong towards Orochimaru, triumph alighting in her heart as she saw his eyes widen with surprise.

Until he neatly sidestepped her attack and snagged her wrist as it soared through the air where he had been standing. His fingers clamped around the delicate bones of her arm with surprising gentleness, although it seemed likely to Sakura that he quite simply didn't care if she got free of him, so didn't bother expending much effort on keeping her trapped. The pink-haired kunoichi stood stock still for a moment, a little bemused. This didn't last more than a couple of seconds, though, and she began to struggle to free herself. The fingers tightened, holding her still with much more force now.

"Girl! What are you hoping to accomplish by this inept attempt on my life?" Orochimaru hissed, annoyance lending his voice a hard edge.

Sakura flinched and pulled back, twisting in his grasp. "I'm s-saving Sasuke!"

Orochimaru snorted delicately and his hand tightened even further, green-gold eyes narrowing at the sizzle and crack of wild chakra that writhed beneath his fingers. "You really _are_ a naïve little fool, aren't you? Your frienddoesn't _want to be saved!_"

Sakura flinched at the condescension in his tone and tried to ignore the ringing truth in his words. "You're… wrong," she choked out, twisting her hand and yanking herself free at last. "Sasuke's confused… that's. all." Her words were punctuated with ineffectual punches and kicks which missed their mark by a shamefully wide margin as Orochimaru dodged effortlessly around her clumsy strikes.

"Hmm… the leaf village really has lowered it's standards if _you_ are what they now consider a shinobi."

Sakura's cheeks burned and her eyes glowed with tears as she tried valiantly to direct her borrowed chakra. The power swelled and overflowed in all directions, refusing to be dominated by her rapidly failing will. A sob caught in her throat as her fist made another impressive crater in the concrete floor of Orochimaru's hideout where he had just been standing. The low, rasping chuckle of the snake sannin grated against her bones and she spun to face him again.

"I must say, your chakra _is_ rather impressive. But your control is truly nonexistent. What do they teach you in that village these days?"

"Argh! They teach us how _not_ to become _corrupt power-hungry monsters!_" Sakura snarled, fists clenched at her sides as she practically vibrated with overwhelming frustration. _If only I could actually_hit_him I'd do some serious damage to the bastard!_

Orochimaru sighed dramatically and gave a helpless shrug. "And here I was beginning to think you might make a fairly decent corrupt power-hungry monster. Oh well."

Sakura gasped as a fist suddenly collided with her shoulder, sending her flying into the wall. She cried out at the impact and slid to the ground in an exhausted, broken heap, barely able to lift her heavy head to watch as Orochimaru approached at a sinfully relaxed pace. He knelt gracefully by her battered body and placed one gentle hand on her head. "I can't have you destroying the place, now can I?"

"Wha… oh." Sleep overcame the exhausted kunoichi in an instant and her green eyes closed with minimal resistance.

"Much better."

* * *

_AN: _Rewritten 17/12/2010 more details added. Hey guys, thanks for your reviews and comments so far XD I absolutely love reading them, so keep them coming *hands out candy canes* you rock!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Don't sue.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Five

Sakura stirred slowly, consciousness returning to her in an agonising rush. Her whole body ached horribly, her abused chakra pathways spreading threads of pulsing pain through her muscles, tendons and various sinews. "Uuugghh," she moaned cracking her eyes open with effort.

"Ahh, so you're finally awake."

Sakura stiffened, her mind freezing, locked in a loop of confusion as she tried to recall what had lead to her being in the same room as Orochimaru. _Oh, right. Damn._

"I was beginning to think you might _never_ wake and I was _loathe_ to disturb you…" The snake sannin sounded disgustingly pleased about something and Sakura could only wonder what.

"How… sweet of you," the kunoichi murmured haltingly as she struggled to locate the source of his voice.

"Don't bother trying to move little one, you're tied down."

_Oh god, what's he going to do to me? _Another thought occurred then: _Oh jesus, what's he _already_ done to me?_

"Don't fret girl, no horrors have been committed upon your body while you slept." Orochimaru sounded both mildly amused and slightly offended.

_As if _that_ reassures me. _"Why am I…? What are you going to do to me?"

The snake sannin suddenly came into view, looming over the pink-haired girl in order to look directly into her eyes. "I have a proposition for you."

"W-what? What sort of proposition?" she asked warily, trying to shrink back into the mattress of the bed she lay on.

Orochimaru smirked at her discomfort and spent a long moment examining her face, as though looking for something. "You have a rather… odd situation, do you not? Your body is infested with chakra that is not your own and it does not appear to be going away of its own volition."

Sakura's eyes widened as she took immediate inventory of her body. Past the pain and the dead weight of her exhausted limbs there thrummed a horrible energy, pacing and rumbling, rattling at the cage of her body. _Why is it still there? It surely should have drained away by now!_

"Ah, so you can feel it even now? Do you know why it is so subdued at the moment?"

She shook her head slowly.

"You have been administered an extremely strong chakra-inhibitor combined with a sedative. The sedative appears to be wearing off, though. Don't worry, Kabuto has plenty more."

Sakura shuddered at the sickening amusement in the snake sannin's voice and waited for him to continue. _What does he want?_

"Now, I don't want to waste _all_ of my pharmaceuticals on you, nor are you of any use to me lying around unconscious. So… my proposition is this; I will teach you how to control this chakra. Or I will kill you. You choose." Orochimaru smiled pleasantly down at the girl, watching her reactions with interest.

Sakura blanched, eyeing the dark haired rogue ninja with intense suspicion. "What's the catch?"

"Such mistrust," Orochimaru shook his head and clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. "Well…" Orochimaru disappeared from view for a moment and Sakura felt the mattress dip slightly as he seated himself beside her. His face reappeared momentarily, closer this time. "All I require is that you allow me to extract the excess chakra that your body and mind cannot handle."

Sakura tried to wriggle away from the snake sannin but quickly found that the ropes tying her down were much too tight. She gave up with a sigh and let her eyes wander over the dark ceiling, giving herself a little time to think. "Why don't you just _take_ the chakra you want?" _Why did I say that? Dammit, what if he hadn't thought of that and I just put it in his head?_

Orochimaru sighed wistfully. "Oh, I wish I could. It would be so much easier to simply keep you drugged up and tied down in here, draining your chakra whenever I feel like it… But unfortunately it doesn't quite work like that." He picked idly at one of the ropes, a vague expression on his face. "You see, I cannot _take_ your chakra from you. Your body won't give it up that easily. If that was how it worked, you would see ninja stealing one another's chakra all the time. But you don't, do you? No; you have to actively _give_ me your chakra," the distant look disappeared and the snake sannin's eyes snapped back to Sakura's, locking onto her gaze intently. "But enough of that, you need to give me your answer. Allow me to take your excess chakra in return for lessons in how to bring it under control. Or die. Or maybe I could just torture you until you volunteer it… that might work."

"No! No, I'll give you some of my excess chakra if you teach me how to control it."

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with something akin to pleasure and he grinned at the girl with a small chuckle. "Alright then… Kabuto!"

"W-wait- what are you going to do," Sakura struggled vainly against the ropes as she heard the door open and close quietly, trying to see what Kabuto was up to. The pale-haired ninja walked slowly towards her, flicking the end of a syringe with clinical efficiency.

"You need to be sedated again- the first dose has worn off," the medical ninja murmured, concentrating as he eased the needle beneath her skin and found a vein. He depressed the end with careful detachment before removing it and pressing soft white gauze to the mark, taping it in place. Sakura felt her eyes begin to slide closed as a heavy, woolly feeling overcame her. She was vaguely aware of the two ninja conversing in low tones as they exited the room, the soft snap of the door closing heralding her retreat back into slumber.

* * *

_AN: _So, chapter six is the new black... or five, or something. Anyway, the previous chapters have been condensed and lengthened, so this one gets the dubious honor of being demoted from ch 6 to ch 5. I know, no real update and I apologise for that, I really do. But chapters one through four have been heavily edited and bettered, so... I know, it doesn't really make up for no new chapter :(

Anyway, on to the thanking! Everyone loves the thanking XD

Thanks go to:

ReginaSlytherin  
Orochimaru's Cherry Blossom  
Akatsuki Demon Keira666  
Echo Uchiha  
The Crazy Hatter

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. *gingerbread for everyone* You guys told me there needed to be more details and so, I give you more details! Thankyou, though, honestly, because I needed to be pushed into putting more effort in. You really are the BEST!

Next up: the extraction Sakura's excess chakra -.-' *excited*


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **See chapter one.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Six

Sakura shifted uncomfortably, somewhere in the space between slumber and wakefulness. Her body ached abominably, head pounding and muscles clenching spasmodically. She became vaguely aware that she couldn't move properly; she was trapped somehow and panic set in with frightening speed. Her eyes shot open and she struggled mindlessly against her bindings.

"Slow to awaken again, hmm, little one?"

Sakura's eyes flitted shut again, her limbs stilling as memories returned in a violent flood. _Oh right. Damn it… why did I ever come up with such a _stupid_ scheme? _She silently berated herself, trying to force her body to relax against the horrible sensation of being restrained against her will. _Maybe if I don't move he'll think I was just having a nightmare? Not likely, but on the off chance it might work…_

His voice came from much closer this time and Sakura silently tracked his progress across the room by the sound.

"You _do_ need to practice your deception, you know. Your eyes are shut far too tightly for sleep and your lips are pursed with tension."

Cool fingers tapped the corners of her eyes and lips lightly and Sakura flinched, trying to burrow deeper into the mattress.

His tongue clicked with mock disapproval. "Flinching, too? And your heartbeat, my dear, is just racing," fingertips rested on her wrist, pressing firmly against her fluttering pulse. "…need I comment on your rapid breathing?"

Giving up on any pretence of sleep, Sakura forced her eyes open and found herself staring, frozen, into the eyes of the looming snake sannin. His soft, dark hair tickled her arm and throat and she swallowed heavily, blinking against the faint glow he seemed to give off. _What happens now?_

Orochimaru sighed lightly, as though disappointed his little game was over already and lifted her hand, snapping a cool silvery band around her wrist.

"There- that should keep your chakra under control."

He straightened and withdrew a kunai, ignoring Sakura's fearful gasp at the sight of the weapon. With four swift, neat strokes the ropes that bound the coral-maned kunoichi fell away, leaving her almost more afraid now than she had been before, wondering what was to come.

"Now, my dear, there is simply the little matter of giving me all that excess power you don't need," he purred, dragging one finger lightly across her cheek.

Sakura hissed in a shocked breath and bounded off the bed, twisting herself agilely around Orochimaru in order to get past him. The dark-haired rogue chuckled with amusement at her antics, watching with glittering eyes as she landed a metre away from him and promptly collapsed into a jumbled heap on the floor.

"You haven't moved for nearly two days, sweet Sakura; your body is hardly in any condition to be leaping around like that," he smirked as he knelt gracefully by her side.

Sakura flinched back and tried to scramble away from the snake sannin. "Don't touch me, you monster," she snarled breathlessly, giving up on any hope of escaping at this moment; her body quite simply refused to cooperate with her demands. She settled for hunching over protectively, trying to make herself the smallest target possible.

Orochimaru narrowed his golden eyes, not trying to hide the malicious spark that entered them. He crept slowly closer to the cowering kunoichi, every movement catlike and deliberate. "I had rather thought that I was being remarkably _hospitable_, considering you came into my _home_ and attempted to _kill_ me," with every carefully spoken word he stalked nearer, pinning Sakura to the spot with his cold gaze, until he hovered over her trembling form. He leaned in and brushed her hair aside, using his immense physical presence to keep her still. "Albeit rather pathetically," he purred against the shell of her ear, eliciting a shiver from the wide-eyed girl.

Sakura blinked, her uncontrollable body almost following him as Orochimaru withdrew and sat back, taking his warmth with him. _What the hell…? _ She swallowed, trying to force some moisture into her suddenly dry mouth. With a shaky breath she wrapped her arms around her waist in an attempt to create some sort of barrier against the now impassive snake sannin. Slowly, as the shock began to wear off, Sakura felt the pain set back in. Her muscles clenched spasmodically, while the ache in her head pounded in time with her heartbeat.

"I-I thought you said this band… thing, would keep my chakra under control?" Sakura whispered, her teeth chattering as a horrible trembling set in to her body. She hesitantly held out her hand, indicating the slowly writhing bracelet that encircled her wrist.

"It _is_ controlling your chakra. Note how the earth is not rising around you, how your body does not glow with the aura of your power?" he paused, waiting for her nod before continuing. "The band does not control how_ much _chakra you produce, it merely ties what you _do_ produce to the confines of your body. And that, little one, is why you need _me_," the snake sannin smirked at the girl, his lips curling into a cheshire grin.

"…oh."

* * *

_AN: _Hmmm... not sure what I think of this one. Let me know what you guys think of it? *entices with homemade christmas cake* XD


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: ** Not mine. No sue for you. -.-

Ghost of Love: Chapter Seven

Cool air pressed against Sakura's skin, bringing on another wave of involuntary shuddering as her muscles clenched in protest. She could feel the immense power filling her pathways, growing with every second, expanding against the prison of her body. The silver band that encircled her wrist was writhing, as though fighting to keep the Matsumori chakra under control. It seemed the harder it fought against the foreign energy, the warmer the band grew, and the more it liquefied against her skin, spreading until it formed a thin, malleable film. She watched the progress of the band with fascinated, and worried, eyes. _I wonder why it's doing that…?_ She glanced up at Orochimaru questioningly.

The snake sannin was staring at the molten band with an unreadable gaze. He ignored her curious look and reached out to touch the silvery circle. The moment his fingers came into contact with it the writhing ceased and it cooled, hardening back into its previous shape. Sakura let out a shaky breath, only realising now just how uncomfortably hot the metal had been growing. She observed Orochimaru's reaction carefully.

"…strange," he murmured, not removing his hand from her wrist. After a moment of thought, his face cleared and he closed long, slender fingers around her arm, pulling her towards him none too gently. Sakura resisted, leaning back on her haunches and tugging in a vain attempt to release her arm from his grip, but was rewarded only with unyielding strength. She glared at Orochimaru petulantly, eliciting an exasperated eye roll from the dark rogue ninja followed by a rough pull that sent her sprawling forwards into his lap. Sakura squeaked and sat up quickly, shuffling back to put a little distance between them. She was stopped from going too far by a sharp tug on her wrist.

"Don't make me repeat that little performance, my dear," the amusement in his lilting voice was clear, as was the warning behind it.

Sakura swallowed heavily and nodded, ceasing her efforts to back away from the kneeling snake sannin. She was very aware of her knees touching his and the warmth of his hand on the cold skin of her arm. _What's he going to do now?_

The pink-haired kunoichi flinched as gentle, but insistent, fingers gripped her chin and forced her to her look up. Green-gold eyes caught hers, snaring her in a thorn and honey trap. Her head became heavy and her body lethargic as pain was relegated to a distant memory under the influence of the snake's mesmerising gaze. Warmth spread through her, soothing away the hurt of her failure to save Sasuke and the ice and fire burn of the foreign power. "My dear… are you aware of your chakra?"

"…yes. A little."

"Focus on it, until you can feel nothing else. When you can do this, draw it out into your hands and then past the barrier of your flesh."

…_focus. _

The fingers dropped from her chin and she felt warm, slightly calloused hands skim lightly down her arms, coming to rest against her knuckles. He lifted her hands and placed them on top of his palms so that her fingers rested against the underside of his wrists. Sakura shivered apprehensively and her eyes flickered down.

"Look at me, little one. You must look into my eyes."

Sakura reluctantly dragged her gaze back up to meet his.

"Once you begin you _must not look away._"

The pink-haired kunoichi nodded slowly and concentrated all of her thoughts inward, on the pulsing network of chakra that crisscrossed her body. The pain was numbed once again, her mind enveloped in a heavy shroud of heated comfort. She narrowed her focus until all she could feel was the sensationless beat of power and all she could see was warm, inviting gold.

"_Are you ready to begin, little one?"_

His voice echoed along the same wavelength as her chakra, rasping and rough, a presence that thrummed through her veins, sending a delicious shiver up her spine. Sakura's throat locked and her body became utterly immobile, paralysed by the hypnotic stare of the snake sannin. Given no other option she responded to his question by sending a pulse of chakra into her fingertips, the power burning in icy-scalding marks against his wrists.

"_Good. Now do that again, but don't hold back. Not just a pulse this time, but a stream."_

Sakura shivered again at the strange sensation of his voice echoing and vibrating in the cavern of her chest, unsure if it was uncomfortable or pleasant. These thoughts drained away with the last echo of his voice and she returned her mind to the task at hand. It had been easy to send a pulse of chakra through her fingers and into Orochimaru, so she did it again, this time trying to maintain a steady flow of energy rather than just a short burst. She felt more than heard the snake sannin's sharp gasp, and the grip of his fingers around her wrists, holding her hands in place. Her concentration faltered, the strong current of chakra stuttering.

"_Keep… going."_

His voice felt rough and jagged this time, catching on her insides like tiny hooks and thorns. Sakura fought against the urge to shut her eyes and break the connection. This was obviously painful for him, though she herself felt only intense relief as the overflow of foreign energy poured out of her body and into his. Her hands twitched reflexively and pressed harder against his wrists, trying to hold the connection even though every part of her was screaming to stop. _It's hurting him… but he said to keep going. What do I do…?_

"_Keep going, you silly girl!"_

That was all she needed to hear, his derision sufficiently overriding any concern she might have been feeling for him. _Fine then._ She intensified the flow, sending wave after wave of cold-burning energy out through her now aching fingertips and into him. Her hands began to hurt in earnest, unused to being used as conduits for such immense power. Even her training as a medic-nin had not adequately prepared her for such an overload of energy being forced through her fingers. Her mouth twisted in a pained, but determined, grimace and she flattened her palms against his, trying to ease the burn.

Finally… _"Enough."_

The warm, all-encompassing gold disappeared from her view, severing the connection, and the heavy, comforting shroud lifted from her body and mind. Sakura closed her eyes to the world, trying to ignore her body's protests at the sudden return of reality and all its aches and pains.

_Owww…_

* * *

___AN: I'm not really happy with this one, but it was being such a douche that I just had to stop redoing it and post the freaking thing or I would never get anywhere with it. -.- Anyway, let me know what you think or if you find any errors/inconsistencies. Thankyou! *hands out leftover gingerbread men*_  



	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **See first seven chapters.

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Eight**

Sakura shifted reluctantly, forcing her eyes open with regret. She would have dearly liked to stay slumped on the ground, shutting out the entire world for, oh, say the next ten years. Unfortunately her sense of self-preservation kicked in and reminded her that Orochimaru was nearby. Very nearby, in fact, given that she could still feel his knees resting against her own. The dim light of the room was still bright enough to make her wince, alerting her to the fact that she must have had her eyes closed for longer than she thought for it to have such an effect. She squinted and blinked, trying to force her vision to clear.

Orochimaru was much as he had been before they began this exercise; he still knelt before her, clothed in what appeared to be slightly more casual robes than his usual garb. The purple rope-bow was missing and the off-white cloth was replaced with something rather blacker than usual. His hair hung in silky black sheets around his lowered face and his golden eyes were closed, giving Sakura an unimpeded view of the purple and black markings that outlined them. The pink-haired kunoichi frowned and glanced down at her hands, which were still clasped together with his, as they had been during the power-transference. She pulled back and tentatively lifted his unresponsive limbs so that she could examine the burns on his wrists. There were five neat circles on each one, forming a crescent shape. They were a dull silvery-blue and she could tell already that they would scar. _Maybe I can heal them. It might not work, though, since they're chakra burns and using chakra to heal them could make them worse. _Her fingers hovered over the marks and she hesitated, uncertain of what to do. Her mind was made up for her as, when she started to gather chakra to her hands, her fingers began to ache abominably, burning anew. She sat back, letting his wrists fall from her grip. She eyed his blank face uncertainly. _What should I do now?_

_Run._

The idea came slamming into Sakura's brain with all the subtlety of one of the filthy jokes Naruto was always relaying from Master Jiraiya. It was so obvious she wondered why it hadn't occurred to her the very second she realised Orochimaru was out of it. _This is my chance to escape! _With sudden urgency, the young chuunin pushed herself to her feet, gasping slightly when pain shot through her fingers upon coming into contact with the concrete floor. Her body throbbed warningly as she began to stumble towards the closed door, but she ignored its plea for rest, pushing herself to _keep moving. _She finally reached the door and her fingers closed around the handle as she leaned against the wooden panelling, trying to still the wavering, rolling dizziness that flooded her senses. She jumped at the tired sigh that came from behind her.

"…and where do you think _you're_ going, little one?" Orochimaru spoke quietly from his slump on the floor, not bothering to lift his head and look at her.

Sakura froze, her hand tensing around the door handle. _He seems pretty weak; maybe I could get away…? But then I'm not exactly at my best, either._

"Oh, don't make me _chase_ you…" he groaned. "It's tedious. We both know you're not going _anywhere_," his voice was regaining its usual melodious lilt and he gracefully pushed himself up off the ground. Sakura let her hand fall away from the door, her hopes of escaping drowning in the rising tide of exhaustion that seemed set on claiming her.

"A wise choice, my _dear _little Sakura. You should get some rest; your training will begin soon," he hovered behind her for a moment and Sakura skittered sideways, fleeing the sensation of warmth that Orochimaru's body radiated onto her own. He smirked, watching her reaction with mirthful golden eyes. "And remember… I don't like to be kept waiting."

Sakura blinked mutely and watched as the snake sannin exited the room with a remarkably steady gait, considering his previous show of weakness.

_Right…_

The next couple of hours passed by in utter peace; Sakura flopped back on the bed, giving in to her body's pleas for rest, and no one came sauntering in to demand her chakra or taunt her or just generally invade her personal space. Her mind wandered from topic to topic aimlessly, nothing making much impact on her stretched-thin emotions. Even worry for Sasuke and what her friends might be thinking of her right now didn't manage to strike her heart. She was, quite simply, too damn tired to feel anything but exhaustion. _Strange how tired I am, yet I can't seem to sleep._

Eventually Sakura drifted off, sleep easing gently over her consciousness like a warm blanket. She dreamed of nothing - completely empty nothingness and beautiful, mocking golden eyes.

Until the door opened on well-greased, silent hinges and admitted her next visitor.

* * *

AN: Pointless filler crap. Necessary, but annoying. -.-

ReginaSlytherin: I honestly forgot all about her medical training, lol! Now that you've brought it up, though, yes she has had that training. The reason this chakra transference hurt her hands was because the chakra she uses to heal is her own and thus is (in my little universe) never more than her body can handle. In this case the chakra is not hers and is very obviously much more than her body can deal with, hence the pain in her hands.

That was, quite possibly, the most illegible thing I've ever written. Stupid brain with its not-workingness!

Also, due to your astuteness I've updated the last chapter to reflect the existence of her medical training in this world – thankyou for asking about it, 'cause I probably wouldn't have ever noticed the lack of continuity.

Evanelle: Thankyou! I wasn't sure if it had been used before (I haven't ever seen it, but I certainly haven't read everything out there!), but it was just such an interesting premise that I couldn't help but give it a go :)

And, as always, thanks go to:

Yuchi1994  
Orochimaru's Cherry Blossom  
Echo Uchiha  
Evanelle  
ReginaSlytherin

For their wonderful, muse-inspiring encouragement. XD


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Nine**

Slowly, with almost predatory grace, a dark-haired figure approached the girl-shaped lump that lay beneath the thick woollen blankets. He stood in the artificial light which struggled to reach through the open doorway, his indistinct shadow casting her face into darkness. With a strange unwilling tenderness he reached for her, uncertain. Elegant fingers hovered over her head for a long, indecisive moment before dipping down to brush over the soft strands of her hair in the lightest feather-touch. Quickly he drew back, smothering the soft, conflicted expression which marred his usually icy, emotionless façade.

The shadowy figure turned on his heel and fairly fled the room, scarcely noticing the pale-haired shape which raised a perfunctory hand in hello as he sped past, head down, eyes hard.

* * *

Sakura shifted slightly, disturbed from her dreams by some unfamiliar presence. She blinked vaguely, a sense of urgency spurring her to waken fully, though her lethargic body was reluctant to do so. She glanced about, throwing her gaze from corner to corner of the room, searching the murky shadows for some sign of life. There was none. _Strange. I could have sworn there was someone in here. I'm sure that's why I woke up. _One hand went to her head, her fingers drifting confusedly over the long, soft strands of hair.

Footsteps echoed outside her room and Sakura swung her legs over the edge of the bed, ready to fight or run if the need arose.

A silver-haired man with boyish features and round glasses appeared in the doorway. Sakura tensed, her hands curling into fists. _What does _he_ want?_

"Sakura, how are you feeling?" Kabuto approached the pink-haired girl sitting on the edge of the bed, his voice suffused with quiet indifference. She was nothing more than another of Lord Orochimaru's fleeting interests. A pet with unusual power. An advantage for the snake sannin.

The girl shrugged uneasily and eyed him with open distrust. "Okay, I guess. What are you doing in here?"

Kabuto smiled easily, professionally. "Checking up on you. Lord Orochimaru is impatient to begin your training." _He's bored, in other words. No new jutsus to master, two more years before he can undergo the transformation again… no way around it; he's bored out of his mind._

She blinked. "Oh."

_She was probably expecting something entirely more sinister, I suppose. Can't say I really blame her. Lord Orochimaru hasn't exactly been a pillar of good intentions when it comes to the girl's village. Not to mention her friends._

"Uh, Kabuto… can I ask you a question?"

Kabuto shot the girl an amused look from behind his glinting glasses. "Other than the one you just did?"

Sakura blushed slightly and crossed her arms defensively. "Um, yeah, apart from that one."

"This question wouldn't be about Sasuke Uchiha, would it?"

The pink-haired kunoichi frowned slightly. Was that really all everyone expected she thought about? Sasuke? Nevermind that her question had, in fact, been about him… It was kind of insulting, really. Still, she set aside her pride in the face of her curiosity. "Yes, it is. Where is he at the moment?"

Kabuto smiled inwardly. _Predictable. _"He's training, no doubt. He does a lot of that."

"With Orochimaru?"

Kabuto shrugged and leaned comfortably against the wall. "Maybe. Although Sasuke doesn't exactly get along well with Lord Orochimaru."

Sakura frowned. "Why not? He… chose… to come here, right? Surely he'd want all the training Orochimaru can give him?"

_She still struggles to accept that her friend betrayed the Leaf Village, I see. _"Certainly he chose this path. That doesn't mean he has to like everything that walking it entails. He and Lord Orochimaru just… don't quite see eye to eye, that's all."

"Oh." _That could be a good sign, couldn't it, _Sakura mused hopefully.

"Well, you should go for a walk around the complex. Stretch your legs and get a feel for the place. You won't be leaving anytime soon, so you might as well familiarise yourself." Kabuto straightened and made to leave, unobtrusively observing the young kunoichi's reaction to that.

Sakura slumped slightly and nodded, more to herself than to Kabuto. "Yeah. That's probably a good idea."

"I'll see you around, then," the medical ninja smiled inscrutably and retreated through the open door, leaving it ajar invitingly as he walked away from her room.

_She _seems_ to have accepted her situation quite well. Lord Orochimaru will be pleased._

Sakura sighed and rolled her shoulders to loosen the knotted muscles. She was rather tired of being constantly on guard during her waking hours and haunted by strange dreams while asleep. Not to mention her room was beginning to feel mighty small._ Kabuto's right. I should get to know this place, although not for the reasons he thinks. If I'm going to get out of here, I need to know the layout well. Not to mention the daily routines of everyone who lives here. _

_Or I could just make a run for it._

_No, that is a monumentally _stupid_ idea. I'm not back to full strength yet and I can feel the chakra starting to build up again. I'm going to need to get rid of some soon. I wonder what would happen if I just let it keep building and building inside me? Would it eventually kill me? Or would it break the seal on the band first? I guess… whichever's weaker would go first. Me or the band. I don't think I want to find out which._

With a vaguely resigned sigh, Sakura pushed herself slowly to her feet, wincing as her muscles gave a cry of painful protest. Evidently they were still sore from the intense, wracking tremors that had plagued her during her overload of chakra. She made her way through the door, uncertainty plaguing her every step. A thought occurred to her as she passed through the doorway. _This door was open when Kabuto arrived, but I'm sure Orochimaru shut it last night – or whenever it was – when he left. Someone _must_ have been in my room- I wasn't imagining things then! I wonder who it was… and why?_

An apprehensive shiver ran down her spine and Sakura pulled the door shut after her, beginning to feel the stirrings of paranoia. _I have enough to worry about without some stranger coming into my room when I'm sleeping. _Another thought popped into her head then; _Maybe it was Orochimaru? _For some reason this idea was slightly less terrifying than if it was someone unknown - and that concerned Sakura deeply. _I should be terrified if he's coming into my room while I'm sleeping, but… somehow it doesn't scare me all that much. At least, not when compared to some stranger wandering in. Especially considering the type of weirdos that are probably roaming around this miserable place. _

Resolving to put the matter out of her mind for now – to be further examined later – the young kunoichi turned her attention to her surroundings. She wandered slowly down the hallway, mindful of her abused muscles and took in everything about her surroundings that she could. The compound gave an overall impression of grey. There was really no better word for it- it was comprised mostly of concrete and steel and shadows. It lacked any warmth or colour and after living virtually her whole life in the warm, friendly, vibrant Leaf Village, Sakura found it alien and rather depressing. There were very few people around and those that she did encounter simply stared with unfriendly gazes and moved on, ignoring her instinctive smile and hello. Eventually she stifled her ingrained urge to be polite and began carefully observing the dull, equally grey inhabitants of the Sound Compound. She had no wish, really, to communicate with them. She didn't want to know why they had chosen to serve Orochimaru, though she was fairly certain the stories behind the majority of his small army of sound ninjas were overall very sad. Why would you give yourself over to such a monster, if not because you had nothing else to live for, to fight for? Sakura blinked, uncomfortable with the turn of her thoughts. She was never afraid to understand other peoples' motivations – it often proved to be useful in her line of work - but she found herself feeling rather too sympathetic towards people who were undoubtedly murderers and traitors. She frowned and shied away from the thought that she, too, could be called a traitor. Albeit one with good intentions.

After that Sakura made a concerted effort to force her thoughts down some other, less disturbing paths. Unfortunately she was rather limited by her precarious situation. With a heavy, resigned sigh the pink-haired kunoichi continued her less than enthusiastic exploration of what was apparently the Sound Village's base.

_I guess I should get to work on that escape plan…_

* * *

_AN: _Sorry, no Orochimaru/Sakura interaction this time around. Next chapter there should be, though XD Let me know what you think, or if you find any errors/inconsistencies!

Thankyou to:

Oorochimaru's Cherry Blossom  
Echo Uchiha  
Yushi1994  
ReginaSlytherin

For their kind reviews and encouragements!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. **

Note: This chapter takes place a week after the last one.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Ten

The door opened silently beneath her hand and the young kunoichi slipped easily into her room.

She stopped short, eyes wide. "O-Orochimaru?"

"Ah, little Sakura… I was beginning to think you had tried your luck at escaping," the tall, dark-haired sannin rose gracefully from his seated position on her bed and approached her.

Sakura's shoulders slumped and she turned her face away from him. "No." _If I could, I would be gone from this place._

"What's wrong, my dear? You're no fun when you're all… droopy and resigned," the snake sannin reached out one elegant hand and flicked the ends of her bangs, tucking them behind her ear with deceptive tenderness.

Sakura flinched away out of reflex, though she remained where she was otherwise. It had been a lonely and disheartening week since she had first ventured forth from her room to explore the Sound compound. No one spoke to her now; no one even looked at her anymore. It was as though she didn't exist.

Orochimaru lifted her chin, peering into her eyes with half-feigned concern. He did not appreciate his new toy and power source becoming boring so soon after acquiring her. "What is wrong?"

Sakura shivered but didn't pull away. She was too tired to bother pretending not to crave his attention. Too tired to lie. "Do you honestly want to know?"

Orochimaru's fingers tightened and his eyes grew dark with impatience. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

The pink-haired kunoichi didn't fight the angry scowl that flitted across her brow. She didn't enjoy being treated so unkindly and was increasingly unafraid of letting him know it. "Fine. I'm afraid I'm never going to get out of here. I'm angry because I was an idiot for going off alone and trying to rescue Sasuke when deep down I knew all along that he didn't want to be rescued. I'm tired of being alone all the time and I don't like it when you stop pretending to be kind." She yanked her chin out of his grasp and glared up at him with mutinous eyes.

Orochimaru chuckled softly and patted the girl affectionately on the head. "Is that all? Ah well, I may have something to take your mind off your worries…

"I'm going to teach you how to harness your newfound power."

* * *

_I feel like a traitor for wanting to be around him. It's stupid, though… It's not _him_ I want to be near. It's _anyone_. Anyone who will look _at_ me instead of _through_ me. I need to let go of my fears for now, or won't survive this without going insane! I have to use whatever I can to see me through this, until I can escape. Because I _will_ escape._

Sakura followed along behind the swift-moving Orochimaru, staring blindly at the gleaming strands of his hair which flicked and caught the light as he walked. Where he was leading her she didn't know and didn't really care. It had become apparent after the second time he had siphoned off her excess chakra that he wasn't inclined to hurt her. She realized quite quickly that he preferred her to be… entertaining and if she were mortally afraid of him she would be anything but. No, he seemed to enjoy antagonizing her and invading her personal space in order to get a reaction out of her. She was all too willing to oblige- for as long as she was both valuable and interesting to him, she was safe.

"Here we are," the snake sannin opened a heavy metal door off one of the many, many hallways which made up the labyrinthine maze that was the Compound. He gestured politely for Sakura to enter first, the vague smirk around his eyes and lips letting her know that he knew she would find that very… unfavourable.

"_Never be the first to enter a room if you can avoid it."_

Sakura grimaced slightly as her old sensei's words intruded on her thoughts. _No way around it. _She stepped through the doorway, trying not to appear too cautious- and failing.

Orochimaru followed closely behind her, taking the opportunity to compound her discomfort with his close proximity. He stifled a low laugh as the pink-maned girl spun around and shot him an annoyed scowl. It was pleasing that her anger was still tempered with that delicious flicker of fear. It would be no good at all if she was completely unafraid of him at this early stage.

"So, let's begin your training. I have been rather impatient to see what you can do with all that chakra, but alas I have been busy recently, what with the renewed efforts of your little village to find both you and Sasuke."

Sakura's eyes widened, a tiny blossom of hope blooming in her chest. Orochimaru smirked and shook his head. "Don't go getting too excited yet, my dear. They don't have any idea where we are… I just take the opportunities for fun where I can. And I could hardly resist three lowly jounin wandering aimlessly about not two miles from here, could I?"

"Two miles? That's not too far away."

Oh her eyes were still glowing with newborn hope and he couldn't help but offer her the crushing truth, a gleeful lilt in his velvety voice. "Yes, but they won't remember anything except finding miles of forest completely devoid of Sound ninja. I'm sorry, little Sakura," his eyes softened and he reached out caress her cheek.

Sakura blinked back tears, rocked by the unexpected news that rescue had passed so close by and yet now was even further away than before. _They'll never find us…_

She stiffened in shock as the snake sannin pulled her into a warm hug. _Use whatever you can to get through this… use whatever he offers, just don't believe in it. _She forced herself to relax and take whatever false comfort she could from this strange experience. _Whatever his twisted motivation for this is… I can't say it's not nice to feel cared about again. Even if it is one big manipulation wrapped in an obvious lie._

* * *

_AN: _Well isn't that out of character? lol... he's really not being remotely sweet, despite what this might look like. More explanations next chapter.

Thankyou again for the encouragement, guys XD You really do help a great deal with this- your reviews provide _excellent _motivation.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: See first chapter.**

Ghost of Love: Chapter Eleven

Despite the dearth of warmth in her life at the Sound Compound, Sakura found herself unable to immerse herself in delusion to the extent that would be required to actually draw any comfort from this alien embrace. She tried; she closed her eyes and pretended that she was being held by someone who actually cared. For a fleeting second she even fancied that it was Sasuke, healed from his mental and emotional scars and returned to the Leaf Village, whole and unharmed. Reality, however, was not to be denied and she quickly abandoned her futile, colourless fantasies. _This is… Orochimaru. And he's playing with me. This is no doubt_ fun_ for him; toy with the helpless little girl, give her hope and then rip it away. And then, take the opportunity to completely unbalance her by providing some kindness where there's been none. Oh, such fun for the great snake sannin…_

Orochimaru must have felt the tension creep back into her body because he soon pulled back and stared intently into her eyes. For a moment Sakura thought she saw a flicker of concern but it was replaced by amusement so quickly that she immediately attributed it to her lonely imagination.

"Well… let's get to work, shall we?" he drawled in his customary honey-rasping tones.

Sakura blinked. _Where's the mocking? Why isn't he prodding me with pointy words and nasty chuckles? _

_Oh._

_This is a much more long-term manipulation, then. Right. Damn._

A sharp tug on one of her pink bangs brought Sakura wincing back to reality. "Sorry. Spaced out a little there."

Orochimaru favoured her with a dangerous snake-slitted glare that quite clearly let her know that ignoring him was a _bad _idea. Sakura flinched, suddenly dreading the lesson ahead.

* * *

"Ow," Sakura groaned as she stumbled back towards her room, utterly exhausted by the 'lesson' she had received from Orochimaru. _No wonder Sasuke doesn't like him, _she mused bitterly. Her mind shied away from thoughts of the last Uchiha with a violent lurch – or attempted to. But, like a sore tooth you just can't help but prod, her thoughts gravitated back to him despite her desire to ignore the subject. _No use thinking about him anyway. Selfish bastard. Still… I guess if this was the path he chose, Naruto and I- maybe we should have just left him to it all along? I mean, aside from the fact that he was basically running off to ally himself with Konoha's greatest enemy… did we really have the right to say what he should do? His need for vengeance was just way too strong to ignore and his friendship with me and Naruto wasn't enough for him to overcome that. He had to do what his heart told him to. I can't really say that I wouldn't do the same in his shoes._

"Ugh, I'm too tired to think about this," Sakura mumbled to herself as she pushed open the door to her room. _I'm going to grab a change of clothes and have a nice long shower… Oh._

Hovering in the shadows of her unlit room was a dark figure, his shape only just discernable in the low light that pooled in the open doorway. "H-hey, what are you doing in here?" Sakura fumbled for the light switch, just to the right of the door frame. No answer was forthcoming. That soon ceased to matter as her fingers found their goal and light flooded the room.

Shaggy, dark hair and loose-fitting black apparel held in place by a dark purple rope. He froze as the light hit his face and Sakura gasped aloud, something she had forcibly stopped doing the day he left.

"Sasuke…?" She whispered, afraid that if she spoke normally he would disappear. It was not an unfounded fear; he looked like some forest animal spooked by the sight of a human in its habitat.

He slowly relaxed, the startled expression dying from his eyes. "Sakura."

The pink-haired kunoichi crossed her arms in a strange hybrid of defensiveness and arrested longing. She refused to give in to either of the two urges which rang most strongly within her; run away from him to escape the eruption of painful memories and the too-bright sight of him, or run to him and throw her arms around his stiff, uncertain form. Crossing her arms was an acceptable compromise.

Sasuke mimicked her posture, folding his arms across his chest and staring at her with unreadable eyes.

_Like he has every right to be here… which, I suppose he does. But-_

"Sakura, why are you here?"

That snapped her out of her half-indignant and no doubt hysteria induced thoughts. "I came here to rescue you…" her voice died off slowly. She picked up the thread of her sentence with a bitter edge, "don't worry, I've given up."

Sasuke eyed her strangely. "It's been seven years. We were teammates for barely one. Haven't you gotten over this yet?"

Sakura tensed, her hands clenching into fists. Her immediate response was something along the lines of 'true friends never give up on each other' but she quickly stifled that useless sentiment. _Maybe it's true in some cases but you kind of have to actually _be_ 'true' friends for that to apply. I don't think we were ever more than comrades in his eyes. And now that I'm not so close to the situation – now that I'm not in the middle of some fanciful crush – I can see that._

"Yes, Sasuke, I have gotten over it," her arms fell to her sides and she moved out of the doorway, leaving his path clear. _It's kind of a sad irony that I got myself into this situation for someone that I should have forgotten years ago. And that I should realise it now- here. _

Cool air washed over her skin as her childhood teammate brushed by and left her alone again.

…_he was never going to come home and he never needed rescuing._

_

* * *

_

_AN: _Let me know what you think/if you see any mistakes. More Orochimaru next chapter. XD


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: See first chapter.**

_AN: _This is chapter 10 from Orochimaru's point of view. It is very short because I didn't want to allow too much insight into him- his motivations should always be ambiguous, but I felt the need to explain his actions at least in part. They're not fuelled, perhaps, by what you might think.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Twelve

_Strange how I am not enjoying this as usual. Toying with my followers and prisoners and other various acquaintances is normally so very satisfying. I wonder why her fragile hope does not amuse me? Why the thought of crushing it does not rouse the usual rush of brutal glee? I am aware that I lack the humanity that I was born with - that I am called a monster by many – but I have never regretted my choices. I still don't, but this _lack_ of feeling is unusual and – disturbing. Perhaps I have grown so distant that I have lost the ability to experience humour? That would truly be a shame. Still, it wouldn't do to disappoint the girl when she has come to expect such cruelties._

"Yes, but they won't remember anything except finding miles of forest completely devoid of Sound ninja."

_Well, at least I managed to still _sound_ amused at the situation. That's something. Oh- she's going to cry. I feel like I should be laughing- a chuckle at least. _

"I'm sorry, little Sakura."

_Not laughter. Faux sympathy. _

I pause for a moment, considering something that should never have crossed my mind.

_I am living a rather pallid existence; my hunger for power has been waning lately and I rely on small amusements to motivate me. This is unacceptable. I _will_ feel again- after all, what is the point of victory if you feel no triumph?_

With less thought than I have given anything since I was a child, I reach out and pull the pink-haired creature into a hug. She is soft and human. It takes all of my will not to crush her for her weakness.

_I will keep this girl alive and she will be the catalyst that will make me feel again. I don't care what it is that I feel- as long as this boring, debilitating emptiness is gone. She will aid me in destroying Konoha whether willingly or not. Knowingly or not._

_So motivate me, little Sakura- make me feel_ something.

* * *

_AN: _Short, I know. Anyway, it's a little glimpse into his head. Not as deranged as I would normally write him, but this story requires him to be a little less sadistic than is probably considered canon.

Thankyou to ReginaSlytherin for her wonderful, thoughtful reviews; you are awesome, my lovely :)  
Also to Echo Uchiha, Yuchi1994 and Little Retard many thanks- you're very inspiring, guys!


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Thirteen

Sakura sank slowly onto her unmade bed, struggling to process what had just happened. _Sasuke… _She felt his image still burning in her mind, the serious, attractive features of her childhood crush now fleshed out and developed into a truly handsome man. _Not really, though. He still seems so young. I mean, sure, he's changed- grown and filled out, but… I can't help but feel like he's still really not an adult. It's like his body has grown but his mind's still stuck where it was when he was twelve. Like he can't move on until he has his revenge, maybe. Ugh, I don't even know what I'm thinking. _Sakura groaned in a mixture of frustration and exhaustion and let her head fall into her hands. _I need to just _not_ think about him. I have to focus on getting out of here first and foremost. When I'm back, safe and sound in the Leaf Village, _then_ I can try and make sense of everything. _

Slowly the pink-haired kunoichi got to her feet and gathered up a change of clothes. She frowned with disgust as she noted - as she did every time she opened the drawer - that her clothes consisted mainly of Sound Jailor uniforms with a single flak jacket tucked away at the back. The difference this time was that a Sound forehead protector lay smack bang in the middle, on top of one of the jailor outfits. _Like I would _ever_ wear one of those._ She shoved the drawer shut with a disgusted bang and left the room, heading for the showers near the end of the hall. Her brisk, energetic strides garnered strange looks from the few people she passed on her way; she had been listless for the last few days and never in their – admittedly limited - experience had she displayed such purpose. Their minds registered the change but hardly dwelled on it for a moment. Sakura herself was entirely unaware of the difference in her demeanour- she was too busy examining her encounter with Sasuke and fuming over the deliberately placed headband to notice.

_I wonder what they did with _my_ forehead protector. I wish I had it with me. Just _something_ to give me a connection to home. Even my clothes have disappeared! It's like nothing exists outside this damn compound – and anything that might give you hope otherwise must be destroyed. _Hope_ must be destroyed. God I hate him. _It occurred to Sakura then that she wasn't entirely sure which _him_ she was hating at the moment- Sasuke or Orochimaru. She quickly decided on both of them. _Bastards._

She showered slowly and mindlessly, her subconscious far too busy processing to spare any energy for conscious thought. She dried off, dressed and dropped her dirty laundry into the large basket near the entrance to the showers and didn't come back to herself until she was wandering aimlessly down the hall toward her room. _Why was Sasuke in my room, I wonder? Was he just looking for me and I happened to walk in at the right time? Was he waiting for me? Or was there something else? Maybe he never meant for me to even know he'd been in my room… That doesn't make sense, though- what could be in there that would interest him?_ She shook off these thoughts for the moment- but they intruded again with a loud bang; _He was the one in my room the other night! It has to have been him! But why? Ugh, there are no answers._

Her training with Orochimaru had left her feeling pleasantly empty of thought, worry and emotion- but now that hollow was filled with conflicted thoughts chasing each other around and around, providing no answers and ever more questions. _Why was Sasuke in my room _twice_? Why is Orochimaru pretending to be nice? Why does he sometimes glow and other times not? Who does the laundry around here? I've never seen anyone going in to collect it and it always just _appears_ again, clean in my drawers. _

_And now I think I need to just _stop_ thinking. I don't have any answers and I don't know how I'm going to get them at the moment._

Sakura groaned and flopped down on her bed once again, in almost exactly the same spot as before. Her training with Orochimaru had been rigorous and both mentally and physically demanding, but it provided her with something to examine that didn't rouse questions and fears.

First he had her concentrate intently on her chakra, similar to how she did when healing or giving him her excess energy. Then, when she was completely in tune with it she had to direct it, just as she would for walking on water or climbing trees. He insisted that before he could teach her anything else she had to have complete mastery of the Matsumori chakra- though how that was ever going to come about was beyond Sakura. She could only just manage to force it to obey her when it was at its lowest ebb; right after Orochimaru had siphoned off the excess. Today had been absolutely dreadful because she was halfway through the four day cycle that they had developed- every fourth day she would give him the overload of foreign chakra that her body couldn't handle and it was only for a few hours after that she could control it. Today it was well over the limits that she could deal with and it was incredibly frustrating not to be able to do the simple things that had always come so naturally to her. It didn't help her emotional state that Orochimaru was merciless and unrelenting, pushing her harder and harder until finally, out of sheer miserable desperation, she managed to wrestle the wild chakra into submission. And all the frantic frustration and fear was worth it for the elation she felt at finally – if just for a moment – controlling the restless energy that had invaded her body and wrested all of her power away from her. It didn't last more than a few seconds but it was enough. Orochimaru had smirked and his eyes had blazed with hot, gleeful triumph as he witnessed his weak, soft little distraction succeed in his presence for the first time. He had dismissed her immediately after that with glowing, almost-happy forcefulness.

Sakura smiled as she remembered his expression. It wasn't really happiness and it wasn't really pride, but it could almost be called both those things. Perhaps it was as close as he could get? _Maybe he really is still a sensei underneath all of that evil?_

The coral-maned kunoichi stretched her slowly tightening muscles and combed her fingers through still-damp hair with a vague grin on her face. Maybe those exercise and success induced endorphins weren't completely chased away by Sasuke's visit after all? With a determined shove she forced all thoughts out of her head and closed her eyes, zeroing in on her chakra with perhaps slightly more ease than she had earlier. _Practice makes perfect. Maybe he _will_ be able to teach me how to control this chakra after all? That would be wonderful. I could break out of here and maybe even kill him… _Darkness hovered at the back of her mind and Sakura frowned at the strange near-unhappiness that this thought caused. It flashed through her mind, wordless and formless, that if she killed him he would never look like _that_ again. With glowing eyes full of almost-happiness and almost-pride. Full of energy and life and…

_No more thoughts… just chakra. I'm getting out of here. Whether I end up destroying him in the process or not._

* * *

_AN: _Not much to say about this one, except... ugh. It was like my fingertips had concrete in them, blocking the words from getting out. Stupid, annoying, frustrating - *throws tantrum* grrr.

Anyway, moving on from my juvenile ranting; thankyou to Crazikido2, ReginaSlytherin, Ziggo001 and Echo Uchiha for their encouragement and thoughtful reviews! You're wonderful beyond words, my lovelies!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** See chapter one.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Fourteen

If she let herself think about it, Sakura couldn't really explain why her heart beat harder at the prospect of another lesson with Orochimaru. It could have been because she was nervous, could have been because she was apprehensive about what they would be doing. But somewhere hidden very far below the surface of her mind she knew that it wasn't for either of these reasons. It was caused by the prospect of seeing him _feel_ again, of being in his presence when that intense energy came over him and lent his eyes the magnetic gleam that forced all pain from her- body and soul. It was impossible not to be swept away from your hurts when confronted with such powerful _life_. However she didn't let herself think about it and so she never consciously acknowledged this deeply buried hunger. That didn't stop her heart from performing its irritating little routine.

Sakura hesitated outside the door to the designated 'training room'. She stilled for a moment, busy cocooning her mind in a protective shell to keep out the flicker of excitement that wanted to claim her. She refused to let herself feel it.

With her emotional shields firmly in place, the pink-haired kunoichi knocked sharply on the heavy metal door. It barely made a sound beneath her knuckles but apparently it was loud enough for Orochimaru to hear because the door was abruptly pulled open from beneath her hand.

Sakura stifled an involuntary gasp.

"Come in," he purred as he dragged his eyes over her form before turning and stalking gracefully further into the room.

The look he had given her wasn't what made her gasp – she was used to him doing that in an effort to make her uncomfortable – no, it was because he was glowing again. It wasn't blinding but it hurt her eyes to look at him nonetheless- more for the ethereal beauty it leant his aristocratic features than for any other reason. Her chest ached inexplicably and her newly re-formed shields cracked under the weight of his heavy, inscrutable gaze. She followed him without a second thought, closing the door behind her.

"Are you focused yet?" It seemed that today he was all business.

Sakura frowned and shook her head. _I was until you distracted me with your… glowing-ness._

His sharp eyes narrowed on her face.

"I'm sorry, I was prepared but you surprised me when you opened the door."

An eyebrow rose and he flicked a long strand of dark hair over his shoulder impatiently. "In that case your focus is disgustingly weak. Perhaps we should work on that today, hmm?"

Sakura nodded glumly and turned her attention inward, attempting to pull the threads of her chakra together in preparation for the lesson ahead. They resisted, slithering out of her grasp with disgusting ease. _I thought I was getting better at this! _She redoubled her efforts, losing the outside world to the inner one that was home to the Matsumori chakra. Frustration rose in her chest, suffocating the confidence that had been growing recently, briefly, in her abilities.

"Sakura!"

She flinched, the darkness receding from her vision as she registered a sharp voice and firm grip on her upper arms. Orochimaru came into sight, gold eyes staring at her with exasperation in their depths.

"Where did you go?" He whispered intently.

Sakura breathed deeply, forcing herself not to be aware of how close he was, the heat of his palms against her arms through the fabric of her uniform and the shiver of unbidden anticipation that ran through her. She swallowed, blinked and miraculously found her voice. "I was trying to hold onto the chakra, but it kept getting away." She huffed with frustration, "I thought I was getting better at this!"

Orochimaru watched her for a long moment, considering. "You _have_ been progressing rather well these last few days. However this is the first time you have attempted to focus your chakra the day before it is due to be drained."

"I guess that would explain it." Sakura tried not to feel too dejected.

Orochimaru leaned closer. "Look at me, little Sakura."

She did so, warily. His eyes caught hers, melting, burning gold that swallowed her whole and left her floating blissfully on a cloud of nothingness. _"Do you trust me?"_His voice thrummed through her, rasping and warm.

Sakura hesitated. Normally she would scoff at such a question and answer with a resounding 'NO'. But she couldn't seem to get the word out and it occurred to her that it was because she couldn't lie with him inside her head. _But it wouldn't be a lie- I _don't _trust him!_

Amused laughter echoed through her skull, tickling the edges of her soul with delighted wickedness. _"But you_ do _trust me, little one. Strange, no?"_

_No I don't-. I can't-._Sakura groaned with impotent frustration, angry at the fact that she couldn't even express this simple thought.

"_It_ is _annoying how you can't lie to me here, isn't it?"_

Sakura huffed mentally and ceased her fruitless attempts at denying something that obviously refused to _be_ denied.

"_Mmm… as much fun as it is poking at your poor, sweet little mind I am actually here for a reason."_

_What reason?_

"_I'm going to demonstrate how to control the wild chakra. It's just easier if do it inside_your_body rather than bringing you into_mine_. I don't think you'd like it in there."_

Sakura shivered at the reminder of just what he was – though his exact nature was still something of a mystery, she knew he wasn't human. At least, not any more. She was distracted from her thoughts by the tickling brush of Orochimaru's mind against her own, his consciousness pressing against her flimsy mental barriers. _"Let me in, little Sakura."_

She hesitated and was surprised to find that he backed off a little, giving her room to come to terms with having him invade her mind, body and soul. _"This needs to happen- I can't teach you stronger control unless you let me in,"_ he reminded her pleasantly.

After a long moment of deliberation Sakura gave the mental equivalent of a nod and slowly lowered her defences. At first she couldn't detect any difference and was relieved that this experience wasn't going to be as traumatic as she had first thought it would be. Then a strange warmth seemed to sink through her, tendrils of heat spreading to every corner of her mind. Sakura swallowed a gasp. This was the most bizarre sensation she had ever felt. It didn't hurt, wasn't a horrible invasion like that of the Matsumori chakra- it just _was_. A painless blanket of _feeling_.

There were no words expressed during this strange, unconventional lesson. The warm, foreign mind guided Sakura through an exercise in control, offering light pressure here and there to indicate how she should do this or that; when to fight the chakra and when to let it burn itself out. Soon it was over and all the knowledge and warmth retracted itself, pulling away until her mind was once again quite simply her own.

Sakura shivered and flinched at the cold loneliness that spread in the wake of his exodus from her soul. A biting headache put down roots in her head and pressed itself painfully against her eyes. _Oww… Why are none of his lessons ever pain-free? _When she came fully back to her senses Orochimaru was standing before her with a cold, impassive non-expression on his face. Sakura frowned a little and wondered what she could possibly have done to make him annoyed with her. _Maybe it gave him a headache, too._

The cold, distant snake sannin narrowed his eyes very deliberately on his new student, letting them do all the talking for him.

_Right. Leaving now. S_akura turned on her heel and slipped out of the room with a grateful sigh. _I really hope we never have to do _that _again. It was just way too weird._

* * *

_AN: S_tupid, stupid Orochimaru going off and doing his own thing. This chapter was a bitch to write and I'm still not happy with it, but... whatevs. Totally went in a different direction to where I was aiming it. -.- Actually it went in a few different directions, one of which became I teeny tiny oneshot that I posted a couple of days ago. See what I mean? Uncooperative bastard!

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou my lovely, awesome, wonderful reviewers! Once again, let me know what you think and if you find any mistakes, etc.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **See chapter one.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Fifteen

Sakura passed that night in a haze of disturbing dreams in which one moment she was surrounded by warmth and comfort and the next she was ripped away from it and abandoned to cold emptiness.

The next morning dawned grey and the same as ever within the Sound Compound, artificial lighting, steel and concrete creating an overwhelmingly dull brightness. Sakura rose, tired and frustrated with the world.

Breakfast passed as it usually did; silently and without colour or conversation. The many, varied inhabitants of Orochimaru's miserable 'village' worked and trained on unpredictable schedules, so mealtimes were often a mixed affair. Breakfast for some would be dinner for others and no one, whether just waking or about to head off to sleep, encouraged interaction. It was as though the snake sannin had warned every single ninja in the place that they were not allowed to socialize and they would be severely punished if they were caught doing so.

Sakura hunched over her bowl and ignored the subdued faces that loomed around her. She had learned by now that there was no point in making eye contact or trying to strike up a friendly conversation.

The young kunoichi shifted impatiently in her seat, legs jiggling, heels tapping against the floor with a strange, erratic sort of rhythm. Her muscles ached, her fingers trembled and sweat broke out over her pale skin; she was fighting intensely with the Matsumori chakra. Today Orochimaru would absorb the overload and she would be free of this clenching, shivering, hurting for another three days. The moment she poured the painful excess out of herself and into him couldn't come soon enough. She checked the clock high on the wall of the cafeteria, noting that it was seven thirty seven. _Soon. I just have to hold out for another- s_he paused to calculate quickly –_twenty three minutes. _

At seven forty two Sakura gave up poking at her breakfast and jumped to her feet, deciding to wait outside the training room for the ever-punctual snake sannin to arrive.

Time passed with molasses-like slowness once she arrived at the room. Every second brought on another wave of teeth-gritting, spasm inducing pain. Groaning, the pink-haired kunoichi slid down the hard, cool wall and bunched herself up into a ball of trembling, sweating hurt. _I wish, for once, he would just get here early. _Her wish was not destined to be granted and Orochimaru arrived as the last second of 7:59 died.

"What _are_ you doing on the floor, little Sakura?" He sounded incredulous as he loomed above her, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Sakura unfolded herself gently and made a valiant attempt to stand, only to wobble a second later and fall in a mute heap at the snake sannin's feet.

Orochimaru crouched before the pain-wrecked girl and sighed lightly. His breath ghosted over the crown of her head, tickling her oddly-coloured hair. Warm, cloth-covered arms slid under her own and drew her effortlessly to her feet. The door was pushed open with an impatient shove and Sakura stumbled inside the room, with plenty of assistance.

Orochimaru guided his reluctant student back to the floor, there being no seats in the room, and knelt swiftly before her.

He spoke sharply now, his voice a fine razor that sliced through the haze of her pain in a way that nothing else seemed to. "Sakura, now_. Let go now._"

Those heavenly words that meant she could let down her carefully constructed defences and allow the Matsumori chakra to do its thing. She didn't even need to guide it anymore; it knew where to go. Out through her fingers and into it's new host. It's favoured host, as far as Sakura could tell.

The exchange was over fairly quickly and soon Orochimaru had withdrawn his wrists from her grasp and sat silently, contemplatively. "Why did you attempt this?"

Sakura's head snapped up, her sea-green eyes seeking out now familiar gold with urgency. "Because I thought I could. That I'd improved enough to be able to hold it in without needing the band," here she hesitated, casting her gaze at her un-hurt hands- strange how the more chakra she used the more her skin, muscles and tissues adapted to it. "Apparently I was wrong."

Orochimaru chuckled softly, a sound Sakura had once found sinister, but now rather enjoyed.

"You weren't actually wrong, my dear. In fact, from now on, you will do this every time the chakra builds."

"What? No, but- I'm not ready, obviously!" Sakura felt herself beginning to panic at the thought of going through this hell every four days.

"Mmm… No, I disagree. You are, quite obviously, ready." - _Silk and honey, _Sakura thought_, that's what his voice is like._ - "If you weren't you wouldn't have managed to control it so completely. You didn't give in and let the band take over for even a second. There is no greater sign that you have developed your control to a level sufficient for this next step."

_But it hurts so much. I don't want to hurt like that again._

Orochimaru reached out and flicked one of her bangs, languid and amused. "This is a good thing, little one, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment."

Sakura frowned at the gesture, annoyed with his condescending attitude. The temptation slap his hand away and glare at him like a petulant child was almost overwhelming, but she managed to resist. As his hand withdrew from it's affronting, playful pre-occupation with her hair she noticed four neat, silvery marks dotted across his wrist. _That must be where the chakra passes through his skin and into the network underneath. _All her irritation at the dark sannin disappeared, replaced with a kind of deep satisfaction. _I wonder if they'll ever fade? _Sakura found herself hoping they wouldn't. She had seen the marks before, of course, but for the first time she realized that they were growing more intense in their white-silver paleness, indicating that they weren't just temporary side effects that disappeared after a couple of hours. She resolved then to look for them the next time she trained with Orochimaru.

"Rest for the remainder of today, little Sakura. We will continue your training tomorrow."

* * *

_AN: _Some progress for Sakura, in a couple of ways. This chapter was easy to write but also very frustrating once it was finished; I'm just not happy with it and I can't seem to fix it so that I am. Anyway -.-' let me know your thoughts on it, if you see any mistakes, etc. =D


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Sixteen**

Sakura wandered tiredly through countless uniform, grey halls until she finally came upon her small and uninviting room. She stopped outside the door for a moment, wishing she could be back in Konoha, coming home from a mission with Naruto and Kakashi, or from an exhausting day at the small-yet-busy Leaf Village hospital. She tried to push these thoughts away, well aware that they didn't lead to anything but misery, and slipped through the door to collapse on her bed with a groan of relief.

She blinked dazedly, trying to focus her thoughts but they refused to be corralled into anything resembling coherence. The young kunoichi felt empty, drained of energy, thought, and emotion. Hunger clawed distantly at her stomach but exhaustion won out in the end and she gave in to the heavy weight that tugged at her drooping eyelids. Her mind drifted weightlessly through the thought that she must be getting stronger, getting closer to escaping and that, though she had been too overwhelmed to notice at the time, Orochimaru had glowed fiercely, brightly, when he knelt before her to absorb her chakra. She frowned distantly as she tried to recall how he had looked afterwards, but found that she couldn't remember him glowing as she stared at his silver-marked wrist. _Weird… _

Sleep landed gently on Sakura's wandering mind, a warm hazy blanket that stilled the aching in her belly and the tired, unfocused confusion in her head.

* * *

Sakura awoke early the next morning, feeling refreshed and remarkably light. Triumph over her victory yesterday buoyed her mood and the lack of overbearing Matsumori chakra lent her step a bounce that it hadn't had for a very long time. She wolfed down her breakfast, carefully selecting enough protein, carbohydrates and energy to make up for her lack of food the previous day, and made her way to the training room with half an hour to spare before Orochimaru's scheduled arrival.

Restless and full of energy, Sakura paced the room, wondering what today's training would entail. Chakra control was unlikely- she was easily in full command of it at its current level. That left sparring, weapons training, or maybe even jutsu! Anticipation bubbled in her chest and the young kunoichi couldn't suppress a grin. _Say what you will about Orochimaru's methods and lack of morality, he still has probably the most comprehensive knowledge of jutsu of any ninja alive. _

Just as Sakura finished running through one of the simpler Konoha katas - her favorite way to warm up and kill boredom -, the door swung open, admitting a smirking snake sannin. He brushed his hair away from his golden eyes with unconscious grace and arched a dark eyebrow.

"Eager to begin, are we little one?" He drawled, honeyed voice dripping with amusement.

Sakura stilled, coming out of the stance she had adopted and blushing faintly, mildly embarrassed to have been caught unawares.

Orochimaru's lips curled into a lukewarm grin, satisfied with his ability to discomfit his new student. "You _are_ much more fun than Sasuke ever was."

The coral-maned girl frowned at the mention of her old crush, and straightened her spine, the last vestiges of embarrassment fading from her fair skin. "So glad I amuse you," she muttered sardonically.

"So am I," the dark-haired rogue agreed mildly.

Sakura waited for the lesson to commence, watching Orochimaru with growing trepidation as he remained motionless. He didn't appear to be in any hurry to begin her training; he was very still, eyeing her with a considering gaze. It wasn't designed to make her uncomfortable, or at least she didn't think it was, nor was he waiting for her to do something, say something. He was just observing and, evidently, thinking.

Sakura let out an unconscious sigh and blinked. In that instant, as her guard completely abandoned her, Orochimaru struck, sending the young kunoichi flying through the air and into the wall.

The breath burst from her lungs as she collided with unyielding concrete and slid to the floor. Sakura could just _feel_ a huge bruise spreading across her back as she leaped to her feet, wincing. She stood there, struggling to catch her breath, hair in disarray and flushed with utter fury, both at herself for letting her guard down and at Orochimaru for being an opportunistic bastard.

"You bast- ugh!" Sakura found herself abruptly pinned to the very wall that had just stolen all her oxygen, the hand of a chuckling snake sannin pressed lightly against her throat.

"You are wasting time and energy being angry, little Sakura," he purred, leaning close enough for his lips to brush against her ear as he spoke.

Sakura tensed, frozen to the spot as a shiver spread through her, breath locked in her chest.

Orochimaru pulled back a little, just far enough to study her face, considering. After a moment golden eyes widened with wicked delight and he hovered over her with a burning, amused smirk.

"_Definitely_ more fun than Sasuke."

Sakura's body awoke from its Orochimaru induced haze with a jolt and the girl glared at him as another blush coloured her cheeks. Her eyes dropped from his, seeking something, _anything_, else to focus on. Her mind scrambled for something to say to distract the snake sannin from his discovery.

"You're not glowing today."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the enormously long wait guys! I got busy and totally lost inspiration for this chapter- it's been rewritten so many times, on different computers and with entirely different concepts... ugh. Anyway, this one is not one of my favorite chapters. I'm not sure what I think of it, exactly.

Anyway, thankyou to:

LittleRetard  
Yuchi1994  
Echo Uchiha  
Ziggo001  
ReginaSlytherin  
Corrina  
Chelseam2

You are all awesome and wonderful!

Corrina: I'm so glad you managed to find the rest of this story here on fanfic . net. I started posting it on the other site, but it got very tedious changing the formatting for every chapter, so I decided to stick with posting it here on ff only. Thankyou for your awesome review, it gave me so much inspiration when this chapter was kicking my ass.

Chelseam2: I'm so happy you're enjoying the story and thankyou for letting me know you like the way I'm writing Orochimaru so far. He's not so easy sometimes (as evidenced in this particular chapter) and I'm often afraid I'm not doing his character justice. It's good to know I'm not doing too badly :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** See every other previous chapter .

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Seventeen**

Orochimaru pulled away, removing his hand from its light resting place against her throat, and eyed her with vague confusion, distracted from his new discovery.

"When have I ever _glowed_, my dear?"

Sakura hesitated. _He doesn't know that he glows? That seems unlikely. _"Ah… sometimes you do. Yesterday, when you found me outside this room, you were glowing."

"I _suspect_ that I may have noticed if I were glowing, sweet Sakura."

"Well, evidently you didn't," she huffed.

"Perhaps you are the only one who sees this mysterious glow?"

Sakura hesitated, nodding slowly. "But why? Why would I be the only one able to see it?"

"Overactive imagination? Hallucination brought on by being infested with the spirits of dozens of dead ninja? Some strange infatuation..?"

That hit way too close to home. "Ugh, I don't think so," she pushed away from the wall, stepping out of range of the looming snake sannin. He shrugged and sent her a knowing smirk.

"Well, what is different about you specifically, my sweet? You made a deal with the collective malevolent spirit of an entire clan of damned shinobi- that certainly sets you apart."

"I guess…" She eyed him mistrustfully, crossing her arms protectively.

"You said I _sometimes_ glow- have you noticed a pattern? Is there any particular time, some unique circumstance that brings about this… oddity."

Sakura sighed, "Not that I've noticed- just, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. It changes in intensity, too. The first night I arrived here, when your – minions – brought me to you, you were almost painful to look at," she hesitated, thinking. "Actually, you were almost that bright yesterday, too."

A slow, lazy smirk drew its way over his face as he nodded condescendingly "…and what did those two situations have in common?"

Sakura blinked, distracted by his abruptly re-acquired smugness, and frowned at him disapprovingly as she put her mind back to the task at hand. Obviously he had figured it out and was now waiting for her to catch up. _In common… me, him, Matsumori chakra… _lots_ of Matsumori chakra. Oh. Huh. _"Both times the chakra was at its peak?" she guessed. "So… the stronger the chakra the more visible the glow, then? That means- you always glow, but no one else can see it, so the fact that I can is probably because…" she frowned intently, struggling to follow the thread of this particular theory to its conclusion. "Because the ability to see it is an attribute of the Matsumori chakra… maybe it was the clan's bloodline limit- they could see… auras? Chakra levels?"

Orochimaru nodded, "That is one theory. The most likely I have come up with so far, though we will have to put it to the test to be certain."

_That's… kind of awesome. I wonder if I could get better at seeing chakra auras, or whatever, if I practiced? _A thrill of excitement shot through Sakura as she contemplated this potential new ability- learning new things had always been enjoyable for her and this was something _completely_ new.

"Let's continue your lesson, shall we?" Orochimaru drawled, snapping her out of her contemplation with swift round kick to the head- which she promptly dodged, thanks to his exaggerated telegraphing of the move.

_Pff… I thought this lesson was to teach me to always be on my guard? His body language screamed what he was planning then- which I'm seriously thankful for, otherwise I'd have a nice concussion right now._

They quickly fell into the rhythm of sparring, with Sakura dodging like hell and trying to get in a sneaky strike here and there, while Orochimaru used her for target practice.

_At least this will make me that much harder to hit, I guess!_

* * *

Once Orochimaru grew bored of chasing his pink-haired student around the training room, he called their lesson to an end, sending her on her way with a dismissive flick of his hand.

For her part, Sakura was _very_ glad to be finished with the day's training; her legs shook from the exertion, and the constant bursts of speed required to dodge the snake sannin's blisteringly fast attacks had drained nearly all of her chakra. In short, she was exhausted, which was pretty much the status quo for her after a session with Orochimaru.

Despite her depleted physical state, though, she was very eager to explore the vast network of tunnels which spread beneath the sound compound; rumour had it there were thousands of scrolls down there, all full of fascinating jutsu and information on the many and varied kekkei genkai possessed by the shinobi clans. _I just hope there's something down there about the Matsumori clan's bloodline trait- if they actually had one. I guess this could be something else entirely… No point speculating about it, though, I'll just have to wait and see._

_But first, a shower._

* * *

A/N: Wow. I'm so, so sorry you guys! I completely lost inspiration for this for so freaking long I'd kind of given up on ever continuing it- then I got a boxset of the entire Naruto collection and -bam- my muse was restored XD

Thankyou for being so patient with me; I know how annoying it is when an author stops updating. No excuses here, just an extremely lethargic muse.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter- if it hadn't been for all of your encouragement I doubt this would have ever been continued -shameface-

As always, let me know of any mistakes, inconsistencies, and whatnot =) - Savari


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Eighteen**

Sakura quickly finished up her shower and grabbed something to eat from the dining hall before heading towards the southern side of the compound. This area was off limits to everyone but Orochimaru and Kabuto, supposedly because it contained the Otokage's living quarters, jutsu development laboratory and the entrance to the catacombs. The pink-haired kunoichi had never attempted to venture into the southern-most part of the compound before- mostly because she had never actively sought to find Orochimaru. _Not that I want to find him _now_, _she grimaced. _I just need to get into the catacombs and see if I can uncover some sort of information on the Matsumori clan._

As it turned out, the entrance to the south was guarded only by a simple door – made solidly of metal, as most were in this place – which Sakura found quite unsettling. Orochimaru had always seemed justifiably paranoid, so this lack of fortification made her wonder. _It has to be booby-trapped in some way, surely. Unless he believes he has such absolute control over his ninja that he assumes they wouldn't even attempt anything? He definitely has a big enough ego… and I guess it's possible they're _that_ terrified of him._

To be on the safe side, Sakura quickly performed a trap detection jutsu and, finding nothing out of the ordinary, proceeded to slowly push open the door. The metal was cool under her hand and she drew back swiftly as it swung open on well-oiled hinges, coming to rest against the inside wall with a dull thud. The hallway beyond was dark and forbidding, just barely illuminated by flickering wall sconces rather than the bright, artificial lights that served the common areas of the compound. Sakura shivered apprehensively and took a small step towards the open door, hands clenched tightly into fists in at her sides. She eased through the doorway, skin prickling, ears straining for the tiniest of sounds that might indicate a trap being triggered. When nothing happened she took another, slightly more confident, step and then another, until she was sure there was nothing to fear. Sighing quietly with profound relief at Orochimaru's apparent overconfidence, the leaf chuunin let her arms fall to her sides, ignoring their trembling.

Once the door was shut securely behind her – it wouldn't do for anyone to notice that it was open – Sakura began moving cautiously down the cool, silent hallway. It was odd; the rest of the compound was all shades of grey, from the concrete floor, roof and walls, to the metal doors. This area, on the other hand, was apparently carved out of rock and, along with the flickering flames from the wall sconces, this leant it an almost warm atmosphere- at least visually. _Apart from the shadows, _Sakura mused. _You'd think he'd have better lighting in his own rooms. I guess he just likes the dark, then?_

There were several rooms off this one long hallway and Sakura checked all of them, peering cautiously around corners and doorways. There was a jutsu lab – fortunately not currently housing any unfortunate test subjects – a large room with a desk covered in scrolls and jars full of preserved specimens, and what appeared to be a bedroom – well, it was a room with a bed, anyway. _Somehow, I just don't see Orochimaru sleeping in there – _does_ he even sleep? I bet that room's Kabuto's._

Eventually the leaf chuunin came to the end of the hall and was faced with another door, much the same as all the others in the Sound compound. She hesitated, as she had done before all the previous doors in this place, wondering what she would find on the other side and hoping against hope that this one, like the rest, would not be guarded against intruders. Pushing down the now-familiar apprehension, Sakura turned the handle and swung the door inwards. Total blackness. There was not a hint of light beyond this door, other than the faint glow from the hallway's torches, which just barely allowed her to perceive stairs leading down. _Maybe there are more lights further in…? Only one way to find out, I guess. _With her heart thumping loudly in her ears, Sakura took a cautious step. Nothing. _That's good. At least this door's apparently not booby-trapped, either._

Slowly but surely the pink-haired kunoichi made her way down the stairs, until eventually she reached the bottom. The hallway light only barely touched down here, but it was enough for her to make out yet another door. This time she didn't hesitate – and once again the door opened without issue.

Though she couldn't see a thing, Sakura got a feeling of - space - from the room inside as she stepped forward. She reached out to the side and felt along the carved-stone wall, praying - to any deity that might listen - for a light switch. _Surely they don't use actual fire torches down here, not with all the scrolls? Assuming this _is_ actually the jutsu library I'm looking for, _she frowned. _It better be, after all this!_

Her finger brushed something plastic and she grinned with triumph as light flooded the room. _Yes! I was right, these _are_ the catacombs!_

Spread out before her were rows upon rows of shelves, supporting a truly staggering number of scrolls. Sakura's fingers itched to get researching and she dashed forward to the nearest shelf, scanning the various parchments as she tried to quickly figure out what sort of system they were sorted by. _Anti-Gravity Jutsu, Fish Gill Jutsu, West Wind Jutsu – these don't seem to be in any sort of order at all! How the hell does he find anything down here?_

Minutes passed as Sakura attempted to contain the frustrated rant that desperately wanted to explode from her throat, while continuing to try and make sense of the crazy, disorganized piles of justu scrolls. Finally she gave in to her rising frustration with a half-strangled screech, "Argh! What the hell?"

"Problem, my dear?"

Sakura froze, hands in mid hair-tug, and slowly turned around. Orochimaru leaned casually against the wall, looking infuriatingly smug. A scroll dangled from his fingertips and he lifted it elegantly, glancing between it and her with utter innocence. "You wouldn't be looking for this, now would you?"

* * *

A/N: Ugh, silly, silly chapter. It just wouldn't cooperate at all! Thus I find it unworthy and an abomination I really wish I didn't have to inflict on you guys :( but, it's a necessary addition to the story and it wasn't getting any better with each time I rewrote it, so... Here it is, in all its unholy glory. XD Thankyou to ReginaSlytherin and Lucy for your reviews of the last chapter :) you're awesome!

And to answer ReginaSlytherin- when I first wrote this last year, it wasn't an actual visible glow, but then I went back (before I ever actually posted it on here) and decided to add something extra that would make the story just that little bit more interesting. Seemed like a good idea at the time, lol, though it means extra work for lazy ol' me XD So you definitely must have picked up on that fact. Very perceptive!


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: **Eh, see first chap.

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Nineteen**

Sakura gently disentangled her fingers from her hair, the soft pink strands falling about her face in graceful disarray. She hesitated, gaze flicking from the scroll in Orochimaru's hand, up to the molten honey-gold of his eyes. Her breath was snatched from her throat by the heavy, predatory gleam that lay within them- the image of a snake sinking its white fangs into the soft, furry throat of a rabbit flashed through her mind.

"…perhaps," she rasped, in answer to his previous question. Her cheeks coloured slightly at the huskiness of her voice and she cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Does that scroll contain any useful information on the Matsumori clan," she continued, pulling her focus away from him and back to the scrap of parchment he held.

Orochimaru pushed away from the wall, like a snake uncoiling its sinuous length, and moved toward the pink-haired chuunin with languid grace. With a sinful, mocking smirk on his pale lips he murmured, "…perhaps."

Sakura shivered and backed away, trapped by his hypnotic gaze, and feeling distinctly like prey. The hard edge of the wooden shelf behind her dug into her thighs as he continued his painfully slow hunting of her. A brief flash of thought '_catch me already_,' almost broke the heady haze of desire that had descended over her- but not quite. Eventually he ceased his ever-so-leisurely stalking of her, when he deemed that he was close enough. Sakura distinctly disagreed with his definition of 'close enough' – it was both much too far away and entirely too close. However, her analysis of his proximity was cut short when he reached out and drew his fingertips through the messy strands of coral-hued hair that framed her face.

Gentle fingers ghosted over her cheek, her jaw, her neck, tracing her collarbone with exquisite delicacy and aching slowness. Finally, his hand came to rest on her chest, splayed so that thumb and forefinger lay on either side of her throat, a burning, electrifying brand that seared her to her bones. The Matsumori chakra hummed and swelled, trying to fight its way to the surface to join what already lay within the snake sannin. His customary smirk faltered momentarily, a wondering hint softening its cruel edges. Slowly he pulled away, as though in a trance, hunger-leaden eyes lifting, boring into the sea-green of the kunoichi's.

The uneasy desire that clouded her gaze was enough to shake him free of his daze and his features snapped back into place; smug grin and wicked eyes. He did not move away, still much too close for Sakura's comfort, and continued as though nothing had happened; "Would you like to see," he indicated the scroll with an elegantly arched brow.

Sakura let out the breath she had been holding, shakily, trying not to let him see just how much he had affected her, and nodded, taking the scroll from his hand. Orochimaru pulled away, leaving his pink-haired student some space in which to concentrate- it had hardly escaped his notice how his proximity changed her respiration rate, the dilation of her pupils and the colour of her smooth cheeks. Even before this little experiment, he had known, and used it very much to his advantage.

Sakura carefully unrolled the aged, faded parchment and scanned it for anything pertinent. She quickly found what she was looking for:

'_It has been discovered that another kekkei genkai exists; the Seiregan. It appears to be unique to the Matsumori clan and gives them the ability to see the aura of chakra around a being, whether animal or human. Practical applications for this trait are limited- mostly it appears to be used for detecting spies who mask the level of their chakra in order to go unnoticed. Perhaps a precursor to the Byakugan, or even an inferior descendent of that most powerful of kekkei genkai? Further studies must be conducted, but I fear the patience of the clan is wearing thin. They are wary of strangers, even simple scholars like me, and are notorious in these parts for their casual cruelty and disregard for human life. I must proceed with the utmost caution.'_

Sakura frowned, glancing up to find Orochimaru watching her with a vaguely bored look on his aristocratic face.

"Do you always read so _slowly_, my dear?"

The chuunin bristled, "I read it through several times, because this piece of useless garbage has virtually nothing of interest in it! Don't you have anything else? Surely, among all these scrolls down here, there has to be more information about this - what was it? – Seiregan!"

The snake sannin shrugged languidly, "Not that I've been able to find, but, please- by all means waste your time searching fruitlessly through these archives."

"Archives? This "library" is a mess! I don't know how you managed to find the scroll in the first place," Sakura fumed.

Another smirk and another shrug, "If it bothers you so much, feel free to tidy the place up."

Sakura took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes against the infuriating sight of Orochimaru leaning against the wall, laughing at her behind those mesmerising gold eyes. _Getting angry is pointless, he'll just find it amusing, _she reminded herself. She gently placed the scroll down amongst the sea of others on the shelf behind her and walked slowly, determinedly, past the rogue-nin. She heard him sigh in exaggerated disappointment as she passed and was gratified to know that at least she'd spoiled his fun.

* * *

AN: Not sure what I think of this one, but at least I'm finally getting somewhere with this, although there's still a lot to go!

Thankyou Twinkletoast (adorable name, btw), Riptiderobin21 and IKillAtFirstSight for your reviews, they were very encouraging, thank you so much for your input =D


	20. Chapter 20

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Twenty**

Sakura shifted slightly as she peered around the corner. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine and she shifted her shoulder-blades, irritated by the sensation. Summer had definitely arrived, heralding her fourth month as a prisoner of the sound ninja. The underground compound was relatively cool, but it could not keep out the pervasive humidity and, to Sakura's despair, the only air-conditioned area was Orochimaru's creepy lab. On occasion she had been tempted to sneak in there, just to escape the discomfort of the heat, but the thought of what she might find deterred her. She shuddered as her imagination provided her with all sorts of disturbing images of the things that might be found in the laboratory of an overly curious man who was fond of experimenting on humans.

The pink-haired chunin sighed quietly as she forced her mind back to the task at hand; spying on Orochimaru. Not for the purpose of information gathering, per se, (though she wouldn't be averse to discovering some secret escape route out of the otogakure compound), no; this 'mission' she had assigned herself was more about amusing herself and trying to force her Seiregan to activate on her command. _Stupid kekkai genkai. What use is it if I can't decide when to use it? _

Sakura was not so foolish as to assume that the snake-sannin was not aware of her activities. He was, however, playing along quite convincingly so far. He stopped to chat with Kabuto, chuckling under his breath as he flicked a sweep of his long hair behind his shoulder. Kabuto's glasses glinted as his face slanted away and he smirked a slightly. Sakura frowned. It was probably just paranoia – considering she was living in a nest of snakes, she felt quite justified in being extremely cautious – but it occurred to her that they might just be talking about her. Well, her stalking of Orochimaru _was_ laughable, even she could admit that. Still, she was sick of the way the oto-nins were constantly throwing smirks at each other. It was as though none of them knew how to smile properly, for crying out loud! _Maybe Orochimaru outlawed smiling? Sounds like him; 'In my compound, no one is permitted to smile. You may smirk, of course, as that is the customary facial expression of villains! Muahahahaha!' Well… maybe not _exactly_ like that… _

Orochimaru and Kabuto moved on, Sakura following them stealthily, bare feet silent on the concrete floor as she slipped towards the next corner. _Right, time to get down to business. _She focused, anchoring her chakra to her body, while allowing her senses to expand. It was not an easy task, supressing the Matsumori chakra while at the same time pressing outwards with her mind. Kind of like patting your head and rubbing your stomach, while saying the alphabet backwards. She had been practising night and day for a week now, though, and she had the hang of it to some degree. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of willpower and concentration it required meant that she couldn't sustain this state for more than thirty seconds at a time, but that was an enormous improvement over her initial inability to do it for even a single second!

She became aware of the chakra signatures of various nearby ninja as her mental landscape expanded, but she knew she had to hurry up and drill down to the one she wanted to see. The seconds ticked by, beads of sweat tickling their way down her spine as she remained perfectly still, eliminating all external distractions by sheer force of will.

And then she saw. A blazing, incandescent inferno of dark chakra; raw power burning out her mind, hollowing her soul into an empty vessel. It paralysed her, until all she could do was stare into it, unaccountably horrified by its very presence. _What _is_ this? Could this be Orochimaru? _

Boldly, tentatively, Sakura reached out towards the writhing, burning thing, trying to get a sense of its mind, of its motives. Trying to identify it. It jerked, hissing and rumbling; a growl that was more sensation than sound. It knew she was there now, and it turned, faceless and yet with an air of insatiable hunger. Terror gripped the kunoichi, and she backpeddled, desperately trying to find her way back to her body, away from this monster. But it followed her; a shapeless, nameless, slavering evil whose intentions were startlingly clear; devour. It wanted only to consume her until there was nothing left, and she could feel the overwhelming pressure of its hunger. She cried out in fear, quaking with paralysing terror. There was no way out, no way back to reality; she was trapped here, glued in place by nightmarish fright, as the monster bore down on her, closer, closer…

* * *

Orochimaru twitched, irritated by the direction his conversation with Kabuto seemed to be taking; what to do with the Haruno girl. The grey-haired medic was disturbingly in favour of simply dissecting her and studying her eyes directly, without all that pesky flesh and bone getting in the way. Orochimaru fervently disagreed.

"We will not be cutting her open, Kabuto! And you will cease your insistence that she is of no use to us alive," he hissed impatiently. "Her 'use' is no concern of yours!"

Kabuto flinched slightly, put out by his master's out of hand rejection of his opinion, but wise enough to know that Orochimaru was not above making his point in a very physical and very unpleasant manner. "Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

Their conversation was called to an abrupt and thankful end by a keening, wailing screech from the direction of the girl in question. The two ninja exchanged wondering glances and dashed back up the hallway and around the corner, aware of her exact location because of her pitiful attempts at spying on them.

She was on the ground, writhing and screaming through clenched teeth, her eyes shut tight and her hands balled into fists. Orochimaru knelt swiftly by her side, neatly evading her thrashing limbs as he tried to discern what on earth could be causing this state of extreme distress. Chakra flashed intermittently in the air, burning off her skin, and lashing out at the two bystanders, before burrowing back into her body.

Kabuto watched silently, intrigued by this strange condition and not in any great hurry to help. He did, however, feel that he should at least look like he was trying to aid her, if only to head off the punishment that would be meted out to him should she die. He crouched down by her head, frowning as he mentally tossed aside idea after idea. This was not a seizure; it seemed to be something more… chakra related? Perhaps it had something to do with the Matsumori chakra, or even the Seiregan itself?

Out of sheer impatience, Orochimaru finally reached out and simply pinned her arms to the floor, coming to the realization that this had to be stopped before she did herself harm. He cocked his head to one side, considering her as she fought to free herself from whatever was assailing her.

"Kabuto… I'm going to see what's going in in there," he indicated the pink-adorned head with a flick of his eyes.

"I would advise caution, my lord," Kabuto intoned serenely, "I suspect this may have something to do with the Matsumori chakra, or perhaps the Seiregan."

Orochimaru eyed his subordinate speculatively, frustrated by his lack of insight, "This is a curious medical phenomenon; I would think you would be more… interested than you appear to be."

Kabuto stiffened, indignant. "I assure you, Lord Orochimaru, this is very intriguing indeed. However, I have no further information for you at this point. If I did, I would most certainly tell you!"

The snake-sannin allowed a slow smirk to draw at the edges of his lips; Kabuto was always so eager to prove his loyalty. In truth, it only made him seem more capable of treachery. "I believe you, Kabuto," he drawled, before turning back to Sakura.

Without further ado, Orochimaru ignited the connection he had formed with her the first time he entered her mind, and simply followed the path (well-worn by frequent chakra transfusions) down into the dark of her consciousness.

* * *

AN: Aaaah, no! Not plot, gods, it burns! -dies- Yes. This story _does_ have a kind of sort of bit of a plot. It's not very big and it won't interfere with the 'character-development', so no worries! XD

I know I'm a detestable bitch-monster for not updating sooner. I got distracted by Bleach (Aizen is very, very delicious). Also, other boring real-life things that no one wants to hear about.

Anywho, let me know if you see any mistakes, etc. and tell me what you think! Also, thankyou to NymphDane777, DeadlyWolfQueen, Twinkletoast, Riptideribon21, IKillatFirstsight, and ReginaSlytherin! Your reviews inspire me to continue this, you wonderful, awesome people!


	21. Chapter 21

**Ghost of Love: Chapter Twenty One**

Down, down, further than he would have thought possible; the snake sannin traversed the shadowy landscape of Sakura's mind with growing unease. Before, it had simply been a matter of opening her consciousness and waiting for her to give in. The moment she allowed him access – which had been unnecessary, he reminded himself – she had been present in every grain of thought. _This_ was… wrong. Her lack of consciousness no doubt contributed, forcing him to delve deeper into her soul to find her- but not this far. Not for this long. It was as though she simply _was_ no longer.

Orochimaru hissed wordlessly- furious, frustrated, concerned. There was a vague, pinkish glow somewhere ahead. Its proximity could not be determined in the utter lightlessness of the girl's empty mind; it could have been a foot away- or a mile. It was so very tempting to impose order and control on this vast emptiness, to command her to appear right now, here, in front of him. It would be so simple, just send tendrils of thought here and there, snare her mind in a vice-like grip and tear all control away from her. It was not as though she was making any use of it, at the moment.

But it would be far, far too easy to do irreparable damage that way. And Orochimaru was nowhere _near_ done with the girl. Not yet.

Resigned, the oto-kage continued to make his way toward the vague glow, counting jutsu to keep his frustration under wraps. It would not do to let too much of his influence settle into the shadows of the girl's currently vulnerable mind. He had to maintain control, lest their connection grow stronger. It had been said that too much contact between minds could form a sort of… dependence, between the participants, which Orochimaru surmised would only be exacerbated by the frequent transference of chakra from Sakura to himself. He had no wish to tie himself to his frail little protégé. No wish to tie himself to _anyone_. Those who lived in his shadow were permitted to do so only because they were useful. They could never, _would never_, be anything more than puppets, dancing as and when he commanded them to. That he had left the girl alive this long was extraordinarily unusual. He had, at first, entertained thoughts of simply killing her and sending her back to konohagakure in a box, as a sort of gruesome gift to his old-teammate-turned-hokage. Alas, she had proved to be more interesting than he anticipated, and the only excuse he could come up with for keeping her around for so long was that he was bored. And she had her uses; she was an entertaining little chakra battery, though he currently had little need for the excess power she gave him. It did nothing to increase his strength long-term, so it's only useful application would be during battle, when chakra reserves ran low after many, many jutsus. And Orochimaru sincerely doubted that the girl would willingly give him her chakra if he was going to employ it against her little friends. _Something _must_ be done about that pesky loyalty of hers! Her only allegiance should be to _me_._

Frustration boiled within him once again, though for a difference reason this time, and he returned to reciting jutsus.

The pink glow grew larger now, every moment bringing him nearer to it. Orochimaru hastened towards it, barely able to make out prone figure from which the light emanated. With an emotion that could almost be called relief, he realized that the girl was apparently still alive, just very, very weak.

Closing the last few metres between them, the snake sannin knelt swiftly at her side, reaching out to grip her shoulder, fully expecting her to awaken at his touch. When nothing happened, he shook her - gently at first - but growing rougher with every moment that she did not react. "Sakura," he hissed, deep-seated unease bubbling higher in his chest as the seconds ticked by; there was much he had yet to accomplish, plans that had not yet reached fruition – things that revolved around the little pink-haired kunoichi that he was unwilling to abandon - and he required that she awaken _now!_

At the resounding, soundless echo of his fury Sakura stirred, blinking weakly as she tried to form words that wouldn't come. Orochimaru pushed aside the unexpected relief that flooded him, feeling that it was entirely justified considering how inconvenient it would have been if the girl had died.

"Orochimaru," Sakura murmured softly, confused and exhausted, lingering on the precipice of slumber.

The pale, beautiful sannin bent down, closer to her. Dark hair brushed her arm, and she felt that she could simply float in the warmth of his eyes forever. The snake-eyes hardened. "_Don't_ go back to sleep, little one. I will not traipse through your mind to find you _again!_"

Sakura shivered and tried to sit up - finally managing to do so – as she struggled to comprehend what on earth he could have meant by that. "Okay," she smiled. She blinked heavily and swayed towards Orochimaru, giggling vaguely as she slumped against his shoulder and looked up at him with unfocused sweetness.

Orochimaru stared at her incredulously, attempting – unsuccessfully – not to be amused. "I am _very_ glad this is taking place in your mind, Sakura-dear; my reputation might not be able to handle this insult!"

Sakura giggled again and snuggled against him, eyes closing as sleep overwhelmed her.

Orochimaru pushed her away, to her muttered discontent, and stood. "Apparently you are well, apart from your appalling lack of chakra."

"Where're you going?"

With a raised eyebrow and a haughty smirk, he drawled, "Back to my body."

"Really? Okay then," she whispered sleepily, curling up on the ground.

Orochimaru retreated from her mind, finding himself much closer to the surface than before, and hastened to return his own form.

* * *

"Lord Orochimaru, what happened?" Kabuto questioned the moment his master's eyes opened.

"She was very weak, and far from the surface of her mind." Orochimaru pulled back and stood gracefully. "Bring her to her room, Kabuto."

The medic's eyes widened, but he nodded his acquiescence and bent to lift the girl into his arms. He hurried to catch up to the snake sannin, who swept down the hall with long strides.

The trio arrived at Sakura's room in no time, Kabuto depositing her on the bed with an air of relief. He sincerely disliked being used as a pack mule for unconscious kunoichi. Especially unconscious kunoichi whom he would dearly like to dissect and study.

"I am going to infuse her with some of my chakra, Kabuto- whatever the cause of this malady, it has drained her almost to the point of death. I want to know what could do this."

The med-nin nodded slowly, folding his arms and standing back to observe. Kabuto had serious reservations about this idea, as he had about the last one, but he recognized that there would be no point in voicing them; Orochimaru would do what he thought necessary. And apparently saving the girl was necessary.

The lean, elegant otokage seated himself on the bed, at the girl's hip, and leaned over her to position her hands- fitting his palms against hers and resting his fingertips on the soft skin of her wrists. The opposite of their usual chakra-transfer arrangement. With a mental nudge, the pathway that had formed between them over months of power-exchanges reversed itself, opening smoothly. It tugged gently at his chakra, as though to encourage him to let it go, and his lips twitched with an amused half-grin at the sensation. It was very… Sakura.

Chakra rushed easily from Orochimaru's expert hands; he guided it to fuse with the remnants of the girl's own energy, delicately manipulating the ebb and flow of power within her. After mere moments her body began to respond, to reawaken and generate small amounts of new chakra, which was the goal of this exercise. Satisfied that her own power was working to sustain her once more, Orochimaru deftly disengaged.

"How long would you estimate before she awakens, Kabuto?"

The silver-haired shinobi hovered over Sakura, glasses glinting as his keen eyes assessed her. "A few hours, I would say, before she _could_ be woken. If left alone to recover, it is unlikely she will wake before tomorrow, however."

* * *

AN: Perhaps an odd place to stop, but it felt right. Not as much interaction as anticipated, maybe, but I think this chapter represents some real progression.

ReginaSlytherin: I like how you left in bitch-monster XD I am horrible at updating, no doubt about it!  
LaBunny: I don't know exactly what is going to happen with this story, lol. I have plans, but precisely what Oro/Saku's relationship is going to become is kind of a mystery to me. There is a distinct imbalance of power between them, with her being essentially his prisoner, which is part of what makes this pairing so fun. But my Sakura tends to have a decent amount of self-respect, so she's not likely to throw herself at him (no matter how attracted to him she is), and my Orochimaru is not inclined to force himself on anyone- it's no fun at all if you can't manipulate them into it! So, it may take a while yet for anything further to develop. Although, you never know. I'm not very consistent- I say this now, but the way the story writes itself, I can't be sure!

Anyway, thankyou for your wonderful reviews, guys! You're awesome! Let me know what you think and if you see any mistakes, etc.


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